Jacob Radovanovic: electrician lodged $37,000 of fake time sheets to feed ice habit

Jacob John Radovanovic, 37, was busted forging $37,000 worth of fake time sheets for work he never did.

A tradie in the grips of an ice addiction filled out $37,000 worth of fake time sheets while working for a labour hire firm, and is facing the prospect of more time in jail if he doesn’t make moves to pay his old boss back.

Jacob John Radovanovic, 37, of St Albans appeared in the Sunshine Magistrates Court on Monday and pleaded guilty to a string of dishonesty, theft, trespass and property damage charges.

The court heard Radovanovic, who appeared by video link sporting a black eye from Marngoneet jail, went from being a hard working electrician to a desperate ice addict after a relationship break-up in 2017.

Magistrate Phillip Goldberg said Radovanovic would have been released from jail soon if it weren’t for the time sheet fraud committed against Apex Labour Hire.

Jacob Radovanovic, 37, pictured in happier times. Picture: Supplied

“This looks to me like to be someone who is using ice and it’s stuffing up everything,” he said.

He said most of Radovanovic’s crimes were “unsophisticated dishonesty” or trespass offences, but the large time sheet scam meant he might have to serve longer in jail than the 63 days already served.

“If you rip people off to that extent you probably shouldn’t expect to move on and not have to pay them back,” he said.

On top of the fraud, Radovanovic also admitted to the theft of a jerry can full of petrol from a service station and the attempted theft of five iPads from another former employer.

When confronted over the iPads, the court heard he said he had chipped a tooth, was in horrific pain and couldn’t make it in to work that day.

Jacob Radovanovic returns to court later this month. Picture: Facebook/Supplied

Jacob Radovanovic, 37, put electrical supplies from Middy’s Data and Electrical in Airport West on other companies accounts. Picture: Supplied

Radovanovic also admitted he used a series of dishonesty charges at electrical wholesaler Middy’s Data and Electrical, where he put cables, outlets and electrical drills on another company’s account.

Defence lawyer Claire Morris said Radovanovic had been a hard working young man and a keen amateur sportsman until 2017 but now had broken relationships with many of his family members.

Radovanovic also admitted to breaking into a home in Hoppers Crossing to sleep, even after being told after he knocked on the door “for god’s sake, leave us alone, go away”.

Mr Goldberg said: “This is really just a hopeless few years of his life”.

He returns to court for sentencing on June 24.