Candy Crush Merbein Mushrooms Mildura scoundrel Allison Simmons sentenced at County Court

A Mildura scammer who stole more than $900,000 from her employer, a family owned mushroom farm, has been sentenced.

Mushroom farm fraudster Allison Simmons spent almost `$200K of her ill-gotten gains on the mobile app Candy Crush

A scam artist who used her position as payroll officer at a family owned business to fleece nearly $900,000 from her employer over a six-year period has been jailed.

Allison Simmons, 52, was sentenced to four years and six months in prison after pleading guilty to seven charges of theft from Merbein Mushrooms between 2013 and 2019.

The court heard Simmons, whose legal name is Allison Taouk, was the company’s payroll officer when she stole $884,423 via 435 bogus transactions.

Simmons earned $279,000 from Merbein Mushrooms and further income via Australia Post and her own beauty business while her skulduggery was in full flight, the court was told.

The scoundrel’s modus operandi was to divert employee pays into various bank accounts under her control, then blow the ill-gotten cash on lavish treats for herself.

Simmons defrauded her former employer of $884,423 over a six-year period

Simmons’ fraudulent criminality escalated over the years and she managed to steal $137,000 in 2019 despite leaving Merbein Mushrooms in February of that year.

Simmons’ racket unravelled after several employees noticed their wages had been diverted to random bank accounts.

The company launched a probe before reporting Simmons to the police.

The court heard Simmons, who is now unemployed, blew a significant amount of her stolen cash gambling and via Facebook ”commercial activities”.

Simmons, who denied having a gambling addiction, also burned a staggering $181,491 playing Candy Crush.

Simmons was expressionless as Judge Sexton read out his sentence.

She will be eligible for parole after three years and two months of her sentence with 52 days reckoned as time served.