Llewella Grillo guilty of using false bank document to deceive former landlord
A Canberra public servant is facing jail time after tricking her former landlord into believing she paid him thousands of dollars so she could move into a stunning rental property.
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A Canberra public servant has admitted to deceiving her former landlord into thinking she had paid him thousands of dollars so he would let her move into a stunning rental property.
Llewella Elizabeth Grillo, 41, of Wanniassa, pleaded guilty in the ACT Magistrates Court on Wednesday to two counts of using a false document to dishonestly obtaining a gain.
The charges stem from her repeated deception of landlord Rodney Miller in 2017 and carry potential jail terms.
Court documents reveal Grillo had signed up to rent a four-bedroom home in Monkman St, Chapman, in Canberra’s southwest.
The home has sweeping views of a nearby nature reserve.
On the day she signed the lease, Grillo sent Mr Miller an email from her ACT government email address with what appeared to be a deposit notification showing she had transferred the $3400 bond.
The next day, Grillo emailed Mr Miller with what appeared to be an email notification from her credit union confirming she had transferred a $3700 deposit.
Mr Miller handed Grillo the keys to the house on September 30, 2017.
According to a statement of agreed facts, Grillo dropped off a signed copy of the lease to Mr Miller 12 days later, with print outs of what appeared to be a screenshot of an online banking page showing the purported transactions from the previous month.
She also gave Mr Miller a note saying she had requested the credit union trace the transactions, which he was yet to receive.
By mid October, Mr Miller hadn’t received a cent of the $7100 Grillo pretended she had transferred, and launched legal proceedings to boot from the property.
Mr Miller reported Grillo’s crimes to police last year.
Fraud investigators obtained Grillo’s bank records, confirming there were no records of any transactions from her to Mr Miller until nearly three weeks after she had moved in, and after he had launched the eviction proceedings.
The credit union also had no record of Grillo requesting a trace on the non-existent transfers.
Police concluded Grillo had fabricated the documents she sent to Mr Miller to deceive him into thinking she had transferred him the $7100.
Grillo declined to speak with police when she was called in to the Woden Police station mid last year, before being charged.
Grillo has agreed she dishonesty gained the tenancy rights to the property.
The public servant, who has worked in middle management in ACT government public housing and child protection departments, is due to be sentenced in November.