Jeremiah Deakin: Alleged fake ASIO agent and fraudster likely to plead guilty
Jeremiah Deakin is accused of impersonating an ASIO agent as part of a massive fraud.
Canberra Star
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A man accused of repeatedly posing as an ASIO agent as part of a years-long campaign of fraud is likely to plead guilty in coming months, a court has heard.
Lawyer James Maher, representing Jeremiah Thomas James Deakin, appeared briefly in the ACT Magistrates Court on Thursday where he indicated the “relatively complicated matter” would soon “resolve”.
Deakin, 30, of Red Hill in the ACT, was not required to appear in court.
He faces more than 150 charges of obtaining property by deception and nearly 80 of impersonating an ASIO agent.
Mr Maher said lawyers on both sides of the case hoped Deakin would plead guilty in the Magistrates Court, where offenders can admit to their crimes in writing, rather than the Supreme Court, where the charges have to be read aloud one at a time, a process which could take hours.
Mr Maher did not say whether Deakin would plead guilty to all of the charges, or whether some of the charges would be “rolled up”, a common practice in fraud cases.
“The intention, at some point, is to resolve the matter prior to committal,” Mr Maher said.
The case would then go to the Supreme Court for sentencing next year.
The precise details of Deakin’s alleged crimes have not been aired in court, but in a statement earlier this year, ACT Policing alleged he defrauded his victim of more than $700,000 and investigations were continuing.
“Police will allege that between 2016 and 2018 the man obtained more than $700,000 from a person known to him, through various deceptive means including falsely representing himself to be an employee of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation,” the statement said.
During their investigation, police seized three horses and a Mitsubishi Triton ute under proceeds of crime laws.
Deakin’s case returns to court in December.
