Tonga Harris jailed for defrauding elderly in credit card scheme
A former Kariong rugby player who defrauded 15 elderly residents nearly $21,000 across the Central Coast, Hunter, Southern Highlands, Illawarra and Canberra has been jailed.
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A former Kariong rugby union player, who stole bank cards before calling the owners and extracting their PINs so he could withdraw cash from ATMs, has been jailed for a maximum of five years.
Tonga Harris, 45, of Springfield, faced Gosford Local Court on Friday after pleading guilty to 19 counts of dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception and one count of possessing a prohibited drug.
It came after an investigation in February by Hume Police into fraud offences committed against older members of the community.
An agreed set of police facts, tendered to court, states Harris stole credit cards from residents at retirement villages and residential complexes between January and April.
The facts state he then called the residents claiming he was from their bank and extracted their information including their PINs.
He then withdrew nearly $21,000 in cash from ATMs in East Maitland, East Gosford, Tahmoor, Tuggerah Lakes, Belmont, Dapto and Canberra.
Following extensive inquiries, police raided a home in Springfield, near Gosford at about 8.30am Monday, May 25 and arrested the 45-year-old.
There, officers seized mobile phones, cannabis, banking documentation and clothing.
The court heard Harris was already on bail for another offence when he committed the frauds and the offences were done over “a large jurisdiction” against vulnerable victims including one who was 81-years-old.
His Legal Aid solicitor told the court while the offending was “above the mid range of objective seriousness” he could be eligible to serve his sentence via an intensive corrections order.
She said he had drug issues with methylamphetamine and a traumatic background, which included the suicide of his sister.
However a magistrate sentenced him to five years jail with a non-parole period of three years, which Harris’ solicitor immediately appealed.
She applied for him to be released on the same bail conditions he was on previously, pending the outcome of the appeal in the Gosford District Court.
She said he was told he was going to receive a full time custodial sentence before the lunch adjournment but still came back to court after moving his car “knowing he was going to jail”.
However magistrate Peter Barnett refused bail stating the risk of him “having more time to think about it and not turn up” was too great.
Mr Barnett also said Harris’ offending was “planned” and targeted “vulnerable victims all over the state”.
Harris will face court again at a future date.