Elicia Brown pleads guilty to obtaining property by deception in $68,000 fraud

A Central Victorian woman has been busted defrauding a government department and an energy company to the tune of $68,000.

Elicia Brown was busted defrauding the Commonwealth and an energy company for $68,000.

A drug-addled Victorian woman pocketed $68,000 after scamming a government department and electricity company with a “deliberate, planned deception”.

Elicia Brown, of Macedon, pleaded guilty to obtaining property by deception after scamming the Department of Family Fairness and Housing of $56,000 and about $12,000 from an electricity company after providing fraudulent information.

Magistrate Russell Kelly said her “deliberate, planned deception” was “very serious offending”.

Drug addiction was a major factor in her offending, Mr Kelly said, having previously sentenced her for several drug driving charges in February.

“It’s clear to me … drugs have had a hold of you for quite a while,” he said.

“You’ve got to make better choices in the future because if you were to come back for similar offending you’d be looking at a jail term.”

Elicia Brown defrauded $68,000 from the Commonwealth and an electricity company. Picture: Nicholas Eagar

Mr Kelly convicted and sentenced Brown to a two year community corrections order with a focus on drug rehabilitation “to hopefully reduce your chances of reoffending”.

Police sought restitution application to compel Brown to repay the money she ripped off.

Brown’s lawyer from the Law and Advocacy Centre for Women Asha Zomer argued the scammer, who is unemployed and on Centrelink, doesn’t have the capacity to repay the stolen money.

Ms Zomer argued that the dishonesty offences would now make it difficult for Brown to gain employment, compounded by a number of debilitating health conditions.

Mr Kelly found Brown had not provided enough evidence to overturn the restitution application, ordering that she repay the money she defrauded.