Black Summer bushfire fraudster Janelle Ballard left ‘remorseful and embarrassed’
A magistrate has scorched a Nowra mother who stole more than $6000 in funds allocated to people suffering from the horrific Black Summer bushfires.
The South Coast News
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A brazen bushfire fraudster has been dragged over the coals by a magistrate for stealing the taxes of “hard working men and women”.
Janelle Mary Ballard, who also used the surname Stanton, was dealt her punishment in Wollongong Local Court on Thursday after previously pleading guilty to three counts of producing false documents, two counts of using a forged document for a public official to accept as genuine and receiving financial advantage from the Commonwealth entity.
Documents tendered in court stated the 31-year-old, who now lives in Nowra, had changed the address on her myGov Centrelink account in the midst of the 2019/20 Black Summer bushfires.
She indicated she moved from Eagleby in Queensland to Basin View on the NSW south coast.
After changing her address, she lodged a claim with Centrelink for an Australian Government Disaster Relief Payment.
Ballard lied to the operator about smoke and ash being all over her residence and said she needed to replace curtains, bed linen and doonas.
The mother of four was granted two $2200 payments the following day and a week later, after contacting Centrelink regarding an emergency ex-gratia payment, she was paid a further $1200 – $300 per child.
The man living at the Basin View address Ballard had reported herself as living at made his own claim for relief payments, with further investigations revealing he had never rented out the property and had no idea who the fraudster was.
Investigations tracked down a rental application and a lease agreement pinpointing Ballard’s whereabouts as being in the Logan suburb of Eagleby.
The court documents stated Ballard‘s crooked crimes also saw her claim more than $3000 of unwarranted rental assistance payment in early 2020.
Ballard had submitted a bogus certificate claiming she was renting the same address she had used to get her hands on the bushfire relief payments.
The operator later noted the rental certificate was “not acceptable” given it was illegible and appeared to have been typed in.
A month later, Balled applied for a crisis payment, stating she had moved from Basin View to 8 Dion Dr, Eagleby (not the same number as the previous Eagleby address), however, a search on Google Maps and a physical inspection proved the address didn‘t exist.
In late 2020, Services Australia issued Ballard a please explain which was never responded to.
The court also heard Ballard forged two medical certificates in order to dodge mutual obligation requirements necessary to receive Centrelink payments.
Between July and October 2019, Ballard manipulated two medical certificates from doctors at Eagleby Medical Centre and Basin View Medical Centre to have her mutual obligation exemption period extended.
The court documents stated the clear tells the documents were doctored was the lack of a handwritten signature, lack of a medical practice stamp and the dates being crossed out and rewritten in biro.
In total, Ballard fraudulently obtained $6704.22 from the government.
In court on Thursday, Ballard’s lawyer, Emel Ozer, told the court the defendant was “remorseful and embarrassed” and ”could not believe she did it”.
Ms Ozer also submitted Ballard was suffering from depression and social anxiety which was exacerbated due to being not medicated and addicted to ice and booze.
The court heard Ballard was starting to get her life on track through drug rehabilitation and being hired at a supermarket where she will begin working imminently.
Ms Ozer said Ballard had paid back a majority of the stolen funds with $1936.65 still outstanding.
Magistrate Michael O’Brien scolded Ballard for her “plans to deceive” as he convicted and sentenced her to a three-year intensive correction order.
“The Commonwealth may seem like it is an entity with unlimited resources, but it is not,” Mr O‘Brien said.
“These funds come from the working men and women, who through the sweat of their brow, pay a contribution to the community.
“Without their contributions we would be living in an impoverished society.”
Mr O’Brien acknowledged the “financial burden” of having four children, telling the court he had four children of his own, and credited Ballard for taking steps to address her issues.
Ballard was also ordered to pay back the rest of the money and undertake 100 hours of community service.
Mr O’Brien, noting her record of driving, drugs and deception offending, warned Ballard this had to be a “fork in the road” in her life because she was ”skating on thin ice in a 40 degree heatwave”.
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