Bookkeeper stole $100,00 from two Gold Coast small business to help pay tax bill

A bookkeeper broke the trust of her employers in the worst way when she stole $100,000 from them. She has now spent most of the money.

A bookkeeper took about $100,000 from two Gold Coast small businesses she worked for.

A BOOKKEEPER stole nearly $100,000 from two small businesses she worked for to pay debts.

Alana Jade Hodge stole more than $54,000 from Custom Canopies after she was released on bail for stealing more than $42,000 from North Gold Coast Electrical, the Southport District Court was told yesterday.

Hodge, 30, pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud as an employee.

The court was told some of the transactions were so brazen she even labelled the money as going to her own bookkeeping company.

She spent her first night behind bars last night and will remain in prison until February 2020 after she was sentenced to four years in jail.

Crown prosecutor Gary Churchill said the crime was a “significant breach of trust”.

Mr Churchill said as bookkeeper Hodge had been given access to the North Gold Coast Electrical accounts between September 2015 and July 2016.

She redirected money to overpay herself, pay a bill with the Australian Taxation Office and pay off a credit card.

She took $42,592.

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When confronted by her employer, she admitted what she had done and began to pay everything back but feel short about $4000. She was arrested and charged in October 2017.

By August 2017, Hodge was working as bookkeeper for Custom Canopies, the court was told.

During an 11-month period she took $57,584.12 to pay her bills.

“In early March the owner had concerns about the financial situation of his business and noticed tax payments and BAS coming out of company accounts at an irregular rate,” Mr Churchill said.

It was then he hired an auditor.

“It was not particularly sophisticated offending and the detection was only a matter of time,” Mr Churchill said.

Hodge’s barrister Kathleen Payne said Hodge was under extreme financial pressure after a “toxic relationship” left her with $40,000 in legal bills and a large credit debt.

She also had a $60,000 debt to the ATO.

“It was not based on gambling or to support a lavish lifestyle but poor decisions made during a period when under significant stress,” she said.

Ms Payne said Hodge had been promised full-time work in Gympie upon her release.