Jan Kovacs fronts court after taking huge amount of cash from elderly friend

A Thurgoona tax worker said it was “too easy” to steal from an elderly nursing home resident — and you won’t believe why she took a break from the crime.

A Thurgoona woman stole more than $66,000 from her 97-year-old friend who lived in a nursing home — only hitting pause on the crime due to the pandemic.

Jan Kovacs, 64, was sentenced to a 14-month intensive corrections order in Albury Local Court on Tuesday after pleading guilty to dishonestly obtaining financial advantage and causing disadvantage by deception.

Court documents reveal Kovacs stole from the elderly lady over 17 months after the victim entered a nursing home and Kovacs was put in charge of her finances.

Kovacs first met the elderly lady when she cleaned her home, which turned into a 20-year friendship.

With old age, the victim was no longer able to look after her finances and had her niece and Kovacs appointed as joint power of attorney.

In October of 2019, 13 days after Kovacs gained power of the woman’s account, she began to steal to fund her gambling addiction, taking $66,370.

Kovacs took a three-month break from making withdrawals between March and June 2020 as gambling venues were closed during Covid lockdowns.

Court documents state Kovacs would withdraw upwards of $1000 from the accounts and on almost every occasion, immediately went to the Albury Commercial Club to play poker machines with the victim’s money.

Kovacs would also indulge in food and alcohol, alone and with friends.

Kovacs’ spending spree was put to a stop when the victim’s niece visited her aunt in early March 2021.

She realised her aunt’s bank account had been accessed unlawfully and phoned Kovacs to confront her about the missing money.

Kovacs cried on the phone, admitting she had used the money to gamble on poker machines, as she was “having several personal issues”.

Days later Kovacs texted the niece saying she was sorry and had every intention of paying back the money, although she did not have the funds to do so.

The niece did not reply and instead reported the issue to police in September of 2021.

Police went to the victim’s nursing home in Albury and spoke to her, where she handed them a birthday card addressed by Kovacs admitting to her crimes and apologising.

On December 27, 2021, police attended Kovacs home and arrested her and she admitted to her crimes the following day.

Kovacs stated it was “too easy” to access the victim’s money and admitted to suffering a gambling addiction and said she felt if she could have “one big win” she would be able to get her life back on track.

Kovacs admitted she only stopped stealing from the victim because she got caught.

Judge Sally McLaughlin said Kovacs’ crimes were not “impulsive” and she had been a “hard working” member of the Australia tax office for more than 20 years but had lost her job as a result of her crimes.

She said Kovacs had “low feelings of self-worth” and began gambling in 2010 after the death of her father.