Emmalee Taylor: Edgeworth mum claimed to run cleaning business in $10K bushfire grant fraud

A police strike force is investigating hundreds of people alleged to have duped the State Government out of bushfire relief funds. A Lake Macquarie woman is the latest to learn her fate.

An Edgeworth mother with a history of committing frauds has escaped time behind bars after concocting a story about a cleaning business to illegally claim a $10,000 bushfire support grant.

Emmalee Taylor, 29, previously pleaded guilty in Toronto Local Court to dishonestly obtaining financial benefit by deception. 

Court documents revealed Taylor had used her real name, email address and bank account to apply for a Small Business Bushfire Recovery Grant through the ServiceNSW website.

She made the application in April last year, claiming to run a cleaning business on the Mid-North Coast that had been affected by the Black Summer bushfires.

Emmalee Taylor. Picture: Facebook.

“Police can show that the address … is a residential address belonging to (a family) who do not know the accused,” the documents said.

“Furthermore, this property was not affected by the bushfire crisis 2019-2020 and there is no small business operating from this address.”

Taylor’s lie was undone by Lake Macquarie-based Strike Force Roche, set up by police to investigate bushfire and COVID-19 grant fraud cases across the northern police region.

During sentencing on Monday, lawyer Mark Hanlon told Toronto Local Court Taylor hadn’t made the application herself.

“She says she didn’t put it in, it was a male friend of hers,” Mr Hanlon said.

“But she was aware he was doing something. She was very suspicious about it.”

Mr Hanlon said the single-mother-of-two had battled drug addiction and experienced homelessness in recent years, driving her to go along with the fraud.

“She was struggling desperately and needed money,” he said.

“Her judgement may have been clouded by the circumstances she found herself in.”

Emmalee Taylor. Picture: Facebook.

Magistrate Peter Barnett told the court Taylor had a long criminal history including drug offences and four previous fraud convictions.

She was serving a community corrections order for a driving offence at the time of claiming the grant.

“We all know what happened in the bushfires,” Mr Barnett said.

“And here this woman and some unknown male seize upon a program designed to help those in desperate need ... to skim off $10,000 for themselves.

“That’s appalling. It’s a breach of trust.”

The Magistrate said Taylor had been receiving Centrelink benefits at the time of the offence.

“I doubt she wrote to them and said ‘I received $10,000, cut my payments back’,” he said.

“It’s greed and straight-out selfishness ... It’s just nasty, mean-fisted greed.”

Taylor was sentenced to a 12-month intensive corrections order and ordered to abstain from drugs for that period.

She'll also have to complete 200 hours of community service.

EARLIER:

The lie that uncovered mum's bushfire fraud

By Emily Burley, March 9, 2021

An Edgeworth woman who claimed to own a business on the Mid-North Coast to fraudulently access a $10,000 bushfire recovery grant used her real name, phone number and bank details on the application.

Emmalee Taylor was charged in November after illegally claiming the money in April last year.

The 29-year-old pleaded guilty to dishonestly obtaining financial benefit by deception in Toronto Local Court on Tuesday, changing an earlier plea of not guilty.

Taylor claimed her business was impacted by bushfires. Picture: Darren Pateman.

Court documents said Taylor was “well known to police” and a suspect in other alleged fraud offences being investigated across the region.

The single-mother-of-two used a Hotmail address with her full name and year of birth in the username to apply for the Small Business Bushfire Recovery Grant through the ServiceNSW website.

“Police can show via the Microsoft Corporation that this email address is registered to the accused,” court documents said.

The documents said Taylor also used her real date of birth, phone number and the bank account she received Centrelink payments to on the application.

But where she wasn’t honest was in claiming to run a cleaning business from a Mid-North Coast property.

“Police can show that the address … is a residential address belonging to (a family) who do not know the accused,” the documents said.

“Furthermore, this property was not affected by the bushfire crisis 2019-2020 and there is no small business operating from this address.”

Police said Taylor had a mobile phone number with its number matching the application, and ANZ bank cards matching the account the grant was paid into, on her at the time of her arrest.

She initially agreed to be interviewed by police, but changed her mind after a phone call to her lawyer.

Taylor was arrested by the Lake Macquarie-based Strike Force Roche, set up to investigate bushfire and COVID-19 grant fraud cases across the northern police region.

She remains on bail and will return to court for sentencing on May 3.

EARLIER:

Cleaner accused of bushfire grant fraud

By Amy Ziniak, December 2, 2020

A Lake Macquarie cleaner has become one of the many people charged over allegedly defrauding the NSW Government via a small business, COVID support grant.

Hundreds of people have allegedly duped Service NSW out of millions of dollars, including some posing as devastated bushfire victims who are struggling with financial losses.

Emmalee Taylor, 29, was charged with one count of dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception, when police allege she fraudulently applied for a $10,000 grant in March.

Emmalee Taylor. Picture: Facebook.

Strike Force Roche — led by Lake Macquarie detectives — arrested the mum-of-two at her home in Killingworth on November 11, before she was granted conditional bail.

Court documents revealed the strength of the prosecution case was strong given the evidence obtained in the investigation.

Taylor, who has pleaded not guilty to the charge, briefly appeared in person at Toronto Local Court on Tuesday as her matter was adjourned until February next year.

Investigations have been widespread across multiple police districts in the Northern Region, with further arrests and charges expected to be made.

Hunter woman Tiffany-Anne Brislane-Brown was the first person to be charged and jailed in charges which were unrelated to Taylor’s.

She was dished out a two year and nine month sentence, with a non-parole period of 20 months and ordered to pay back $60,000 in compensation.