Hairdresser Morgan Shotton admits to bushfire grant fraud
Morgan Shotton was never impacted by last summer’s bushfires but that didn’t stop her applying for six cash grants under multiple identities and scoring $20,000.
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A hairdresser who took advantage of generous government grant programs to help bushfire and COVID victims has pleaded guilty to a laundry list of fraud offences in court.
Morgan Lea Shotton, the owner of MorganLea Hair at Charlestown, was never impacted by last summer’s bushfires, however that didn’t stop her applying for six Service NSW cash grants and scoring $20,000.
In court documents. police said the 27-year-old, of Kahibah, needed to show a 40 per cent decline in revenue or more during a three-month period and be from a bushfire-affected local government area to be eligible for the bushfire grants.
On March 26 last year, Shotton applied for a $10,000 grant and said she ran a cleaning business in Port Macquarie.
After Service NSW deposited the money into her Greater Bank account the same day, Shotton applied for another grant.
On April 16, using the name Barry Bisset, Shotton claimed she ran a hair and beauty business at Possum Brush near Taree. Service NSW again deposited $10,000 into her grant the same day.
According to court documents, Shotton had also received about $8800 in Job Seeker and Newstart payments when she hit the government up for the grant funding.
When police were told of a high number of $10,000 and $50,000 Service NSW grants being deposited into bank accounts, they honed in on Shotton but she never stopped applying for more grants.
On April 22, using the same email address and phone number as before, Shotton applied for another $10,000 grant and said she was Angus Smith, the owner of a cleaning business at Possum Brush.
No more grant money was ever delivered, but Shotton continued to make false applications.
On April 29, she hit the government up for more cash and said she was Beth Preston from Bellingen, the owner of a hair and beauty business.
On May 5, Shotton said she was Tracey Lang, the owner of hair and beauty business at Possum Brush.
After she stopped getting the bushfire grants, Shotton used her real name on August 6 in an attempt to get a $2000 COVID grant for businesses who suffered a 30 per cent decline.
In court documents, police said people like Shotton were able to easily get the Service NSW grants because struggling small businesses needed the money as quickly as possible and the government relied on an “honesty system”.
“Due to the volume and urgency of the grants, no checking mechanisms were in place to confirm the validity of the business or financial loss,” police said.
“Grants were approved and fulfilled without any documentation to support the declined revenue associated with the 2019-20 bushfires or COVID-19 pandemic.”
As police continued to investigate Shotton’s fraudulent behaviour, she turned to another type of crime at Wellington in the NSW central west.
On December 10, she was caught trying to smuggle 27.15 grams of methylamphetamine into Wellington jail.
Phone taps helped catch Shotton before she got the ice inside and police arrested her on December 22 at Belmont Police Station.
In Wellington Local Court on Tuesday, Shotton pleaded guilty to six counts of dishonestly obtain financial advantage by deception and one count of prohibited drug supply.
Defence lawyer David Hemsworth said because of the “significant amount” of dishonesty and drugs involved in Shotton’s case, sentencing assessment and psychological reports would be needed before sentencing.
Magistrate Stephen Olischlager ordered the reports and set a date in April for sentencing.
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