Tim Lovell: South Nowra roofer, contractor scams $98k in year-long fraud

A south coast fraudster tradie has been jailed for at least 12 months after ripping off a company and clients to the tune of nearly $100,000. Here’s how he did it.

Tim Lovell’s fraudulent activities netted him almost $100,000. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Nicholas Eagar

A south coast roofer and general contractor has blamed financial hardship for his decision to commit an almost $100,000 fraud, which involved giving clients the wrong bank account details or taking payments without performing work.

Tim Lovell, 41, was jailed over the year-long fraud on Tuesday, when he was sentenced in Nowra Local Court after pleading guilty to seven counts of dishonestly obtaining a financial advantage by deception.

Documents tendered to the court reveal the South Nowra man stole $58,161 from Coast Style Roofing between March and September 2021, while he was co-director and a shareholder in the company.

The 41-year-old man later stole an additional $40,475 from clients between February and May 2022, while working as an independent contractor.

Agreed facts state that. while a co-director of Coast Style Roofing, Lovell provided clients with his personal bank details rather than those of the company, resulting in payments for various jobs going into his account.

Tim Lovell was sentenced in the Nowra Local Court.

It wasn’t until August 2021 that a co-director, Shaun Hobbs, found an invoice of more than $5000 going into a personal account.

Court documents state Mr Hobbs questioned Lovell about the transaction, with the South Nowra man replying: “I f--ked up.”

“It’s fraud, mate,” Mr Hobbs replied.

“I know, I am going to pay it back,” Lovell said, according to court documents.

However, Lovell was officially terminated from his position at the business and removed as a shareholder during a company meeting on September 30, 2021.

Agreed facts state it was after this meeting that police were informed of the fraud and an investigation commenced.

Following his termination, Lovell began working as an independent contractor and continued ripping clients off.

In February 2022, Lovell quoted an individual $5825 to construct a large shed, with the payment being made in full.

However, the shed was never constructed, with Lovell continuously providing the client various excuses as to why work had not commenced.

The client asked for a refund, which was never paid.

Two months later, Lovell ripped off another client, quoting $11,650 to construct a car port.

Again, the structure was not built and a requested refund was not paid.

Finally, in May 2022, Lovell was contracted to build a stable, quoting the customers $23,000.

Despite the payment being made, the structure was not built.

All three clients reported the fraud to the police, who were still investigating Lovell’s Coast Style Roofing offences.

On May 9, 2023, one year after the $23,000 payment, Lovell attended Nowra Police Station, where he was charged and issued a court attendance notice.

Coast Style Roofing and the individual clients are yet to be paid back.

In court on Tuesday, Lovell’s lawyer, Brett Ford, said his client decided to pocket the money due to suffering financial stress.

He said the fraud concluded in May 2022, as finances were no longer an issue.

However, magistrate Geraldine Beattie said this was no excuse.

“You don’t fix financial stress by ripping off all these other people,” she said.

“You were caught in August 2021 and you could have started paying the stolen funds back, but you didn’t; instead, you started scamming more people.”

Despite Lovell having no criminal history, Ms Beattie said the offences were far too serious for a community-based sentence.

“The only appropriate way to deal with this is full-time custody,” she said.

Lovell was convicted and sentenced to an aggregate term of 20 months in prison, with a 12-month non-parole period.

The 41-year-old man will be eligible for release in July 2025.

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