Zoee Smith: CA Care Services disability carer ripped off ‘vulnerable’ Central Coast clients
A disability support worker sentenced for ripping off ‘vulnerable’ people in her care used the money for car payments, petrol and personal items including a $400 shopping spree, a court has heard.
Central Coast
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A disability support worker accessed a client’s myGov account to try to transfer $1300 into another account and used the ATM card of another victim to defraud her of $1175 over the course of three months, a court has heard.
Zoee Lea Smith, of Woongarrah, faced Wyong Local Court on Monday where she pleaded guilty to 10 counts of obtaining financial advantage by deception.
An agreed set of police facts tendered to court states the 23-year-old was employed as a disability support carer with C.A. Care Services where she looked after a woman in residential care because of the severity of her depression, anxiety, autism and bipolar.
Between November 19, 2019 and January 11, 2020 the victim had multiple cash amounts disappear from her bank account.
Police spoke with managers of C.A. Care Services and then current staff members when Smith disclosed taking the victim’s money.
The facts state she had access to the victim’s card and the security PIN because of her duties as a carer.
On February 11, 2020, Smith attended Wyong Police Station where she was interviewed and admitted withdrawing money on nine occasions totalling $1175.
“The accused used the money towards car payments, petrol and personal items,” the facts read.
Smith withdrew money in amounts ranging from $50 to $250 from ATMS at Tuggerah and Bateau Bay as well as Coles.
Smith was sacked in February after being charged with fraud but after an internal investigation by C.A. Care Services another victim was identified.
The police facts state Smith accessed the victim’s myGov account in November and applied for a $1300 advance Centrelink payment.
“The accused entered new bank account details into the victim’s Centrelink account and nominated this account for the advanced payment,” the facts read.
The account details belonged to a colleague who denied providing her bank details to Smith.
As a result of the request for an advance, the victim’s myGov account was frozen.
Smith and the victim attended the Lake Haven branch of Centrelink to arrange access to the account.
On November 25 last year Smith attended the St George ATM at Bateau Bay Square and used the victim’s keycard to access her account and withdraw $1300.
She told police she gave $400 to her colleague and spent $400 herself on “various personal items”.
However her “co-worker denied being provided with any funds from Smith” and was never charged with any offence.
Smith’s Legal Aid solicitor Mitchell Guest told the court she was peer pressured into taking the money by friends and that she was unlikely to reoffend.
However Magistrate Elizabeth Ellis described the victims as “very vulnerable members of our community”, there was “a degree of criminality” because the offending had taken place over the space of a few months and Smith had shown no remorse other than pleading guilty.
Ms Ellis sentenced Smith to 14 months jail with a non-parole period of nine months.
However Smith was released on bail after her solicitor immediately lodged an appeal.
She will face Gosford District Court at a later date.