Rhiannon Sutherland pleads guilty to drug and fraud charges following series of Facebook scams

The daughter of a retired federal police officer has confessed to a “really quite nasty” series of online cons in the Heidelberg Magistrates’ Court.

The daughter of a retired federal police officer committed a series of petty frauds on Facebook marketplace to fund her drug habit, a court has heard.

Rhiannon Leah Sutherland, 31, of Alphington, faced the Heidelberg Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday where she pleaded guilty to a string of drug and deception charges.

Sutherland’s crime spree included opening a corporate account at Bunnings using the details of her former employer, and, with a co-offender, buying more than $5000 of power tools and building supplies.

Police uncovered the scam when Bunnings approached Sutherland’s former boss and asked him to pay off his overdue account, only for him to tell the hardware chain’s bean counters he had never had an account with them.

Rhiannon Sutherland, 31, faced the Heidelberg Magistrates Court on Tuesday over a series of Facebook marketplace scams. Picture: Twitter/Supplied

Rhiannon Leah Sutherland will return to court at a later date.

The power tools and building supplies were never recovered, and police suspect they were sold.

In early March, Sutherland turned to Facebook marketplace, where she repeatedly duped people into handing over items they were selling by sending them fake online banking transfer notifications.

She would then pick up the items, telling her victims the money would soon arrive in their bank accounts, only to cut off communication when they later rang to ask where the money was.

Sutherland tricked her victims into handing over a laptop computer, a designer duffel bag, an iPhone, a bed frame, and a lounge.

Her and a co-offender also paid a delivery driver with two counterfeit $100 notes, which the Commonwealth Bank seized when he went to deposit them.

Sutherland also admitted to threatening to blow up a woman’s car after the two fell out over the purchase of a scented candle.

Magistrate Helen Murphy described Sutherland’s offending as “really quite nasty, deceptive behaviour”.

She said Sutherland, a mother-of-one, was lucky to have already served 56 days behind bars, otherwise she would have sentenced her to serve jail time.

Sutherland’s lawyer, Scott Thomas, said his client served her time on remand in a high security, because her father’s former job made her a potential target.

Mr Thomas said Sutherland had taken significant steps to kick her drug habit.

Sutherland will return to court at a later date.