Jacob Branch: Former VicRoads worker steals thousands from clients, including super

A former VicRoads worker from Ballarat stole his clients’ identification and used it to steal their superannuation and buy ‘greedy’ gifts such as movie and holiday vouchers.

A former VicRoads worker from Ballarat has admitted to stealing money from clients after he illegally photographed their identification cards and used them to steal super money.

Jacob Branch, 36, was sentenced in County Court on Monday to four years and 10 months jail after he pleaded guilty to a string of crimes including theft, obtaining financial advantage by deception, attempting to do so and possessing firearms.

Court documents state Branch was working for VicRoads in Ballarat between January 2018 and March 2019 when he took photos of his clients’ licence identification information, including credit cards, passports and driver’s licenses and stored them on his phone.

Branch began his crimes in November 2018, when he went to Bunnings and attempted to create a Powerpass credit account, designed for tradies, to the value of $5000 by pretending to be one of his clients using their identification.

On February 11, 2019, Branch obtained a $300 Red Balloon voucher, which allows the holder to purchase experiences such as sky diving or hot air ballooning, by again pretending to be another of his clients using their ID.

In the days after, Branch attempted to buy more than $800 worth of Harvey Norman goods and obtained nearly $250 worth of vouchers for Regent Cinemas using the same methods.

Branch took his crimes to a new level in March 2019 when he falsely presented himself to CBUS Superannuation as one of his clients and transferred $18,000 of super to another account.

The court heard the victim is still out of pocket for this money.

In July 2019, Branch attempted to obtain $10,000 from Latitude Finance Australia, and several loans worth nearly $5000 from various companies by attempting to be one of his female clients.

He then attempted to steal $60,000 worth of super from a client’s AMP Superannuation fund in September 2019.

In November 2019, Branch attempted to transfer $40,000 from a client’s bank account into another account falsely claiming to be the client.

After opening multiple bank accounts in the names of his clients using their IDs, Branch transferred $65,000 from one client’s real bank account into his new, fake account by convincing the bank the application for rollover was genuine.

Between 17 and 18 March 2020, Branch withdrew $7700 from five ATMs across Ballarat, Dunolly and Maryborough from various fraudulently created accounts.

Branch was finally caught by chance when he crashed his motorcycle in Ballarat on March 19, 2020.

Police arrived at the crash to find Branch collecting a bag from the road which contained identification information and items of mail from the 18 people whom Branch had been stealing from.

Branch was also found to have been in possession of a firearm several times through 2019 when not authorised to do so.

As Branch’s attempted purchases included an iPad, PlayStation and movie vouchers, Judge Helen Syme said she could only assume “greed” was his motive, as he had not provided any other explanation for the theft.

Branch was sentenced to four years and 10 months jail with a non-parole period of two years and nine months.