Georgia Sellick, 31, pleads guilty to stealing $260k from Kyabram businesses

A thieving Goulburn Valley mum’s “deceit and betrayal” has been exposed after she was busted stealing more than $260,000 from three local businesses to pay for a house reno.

Kyabram woman Georgia Sellick pleaded guilty to stealing more than $260,000 from local businesses.

A dodgy Kyabram bookkeeper has been busted stealing more than $260,000 in superannuation, employee benefits and supplier payments from local businesses to pay for her house renovation.

Georgia Sellick, 31, of Kyabram, faces up to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty at the Melbourne County Court on Tuesday to rorting more than $260,000 from local businesses between March 2019 and September 2021.

While she was working as a bookkeeper, Sellick stole $151,306 from company JAG Plumbing Kyabram owned by Jarrod Gale, the court heard.

Kyabram woman Georgia Sellick abused her trusted position as a bookkeeper to steal $260k from businesses.

JAG Plumbing’s website states it is a “family owned business that has been servicing Kyabram, Shepparton, Echuca and the Goulburn Valley region since 2005”.

She also stole $58,978 from Campaspe Hydraulics Engineering and $51,622 from AW AG Contracting which are businesses owned by Kyabram man Adam Whipp.

The court heard Sellick had redirected supplier payments and along with employee superannuation and benefits from the businesses into her own accounts across 238 fraudulent transactions.

Her fraud was discovered in September 2021 after Mr Whipp’s accountant came across an “anomaly” that kicked off an investigation that revealed she had stolen more than $100,000 across his two businesses, with some of her fraud disguised as payments to suppliers who never received their funds.

Kyabram mother of three children under 10 and fraudster Georgia Sellick outside Bendigo Magistrates Court.

Mr Whipp said he was “completely blindsided and betrayed” by Sellick’s “deception and lies”.

“It has cost me financially and has impacted my reputation with suppliers,” he said.

Mr Whipp told the court he was hit with “penalties and fees” from the ATO for a breach of superannuation policy as a result of Sellick’s fraud and had to cover cost of paying the amount stolen to the intended recipients out of his own pocket before Sellick had made restitutions.

“I’m still suffering ongoing consequences of her theft, lies and deceit. This whole process has taken years to get to court – it’s so frustrating and stressful,” he said.

“I’m still living this nightmare years later.”

When Sellick was confronted with the thefts as they were discovered, she admitted to them and paid back the amount – but she never volunteered information about the thefts that were yet undetected, the court heard.

Mr Whipp said Sellick had never apologised for her “lies and deceit”. Picture: Nicholas Eagar

The full extent of Sellick’s fraud wasn’t revealed until after months of forensic investigation by Victoria Police.

When Judge Paul Higham asked why Sellick had made “drip, drip” admissions to her “serious offending” after being caught, her barrister told the court the fraudster had “lost track” of all the money she had stolen.

Her barrister argued that while she had not “confessed” to all of the fraud immediately, she had “co-operated” with the investigation that eventually revealed all of her thievery.

In her defence, her barrister said Sellick had since paid back all the money she had stolen, demonstrated “contrition” and “remorse” and asked that Sellick be sentenced to a community corrections order.

The defence argued the money she stole went towards daily expenses and towards the “renovation” of her family home, not towards a “lavish lifestyle”, which should mitigate the severity of the offending.

“Subjectively, she was doing it out of a sense of giving her children more … she had the belief she was doing the right thing for her children,” her lawyer said.

The crown argued that Sellick had still enriched herself and made use of her criminal profits.

Her barrister argued she was a “decent and hardworking person” and wasn’t being “greedy”, rather she wanted “her children to have a home they’re not embarrassed about” after she grew up in poverty.

Judge Higham ordered that Sellick be assessed for a community corrections order, however indicated that she was still facing the possibility of a custodial sentence.

Sellick’s case was adjourned to October and she remains on bail.