Scoundrel Melbourne mum Sarah Ward pleads guilty to obtain financial advantage Medicare rort
A Melbourne mum stole more $180,000 to keep up with the Joneses and fund the rich lifestyle she lusted after on social media.
South East
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A Melbourne mum who stole more than $180,000 to live a social media driven fantasy will serve a stint in the slammer with her kid.
Sarah Ward, 31, was sentenced in the County Court on Friday to a 12-month jail term after pleading guilty to dishonestly obtain a financial advantage by deception.
Ward, a former Caulfield Grammar scholarship student, was receptionist at Noble Park medical business Melbourne Digestive Centre when she diddled Medicare out of $181,121.
The scoundrel used her position to lodge 1609 bogus Medicare claims between March 2019 and April 2020.
Ward, a health care professional who formerly worked at Cabrini Health, falsified patient claims then used the ill-gotten cash to pay down her credit card.
The court heard Ward’s husband Morton Ward was an “additional cardholder” on his wife’s credit card.
Ward, a mother of two, also transferred cash to other savings accounts.
The fraudster’s skulduggery was detected following a “tip off” in May 2020.
Ward has a prior fraud conviction for lodging false patient refund forms while working at Cabrini Health in 2015.
Ward gleaned $29,981 from the Cabrini rort but avoided jail.
The defence submitted Ward thieved in “circumstances” where she suffered “personality disorders” and “a number of stressors prevailing in her life” in the context of “chronic issues related to social anxiety and self-esteem”.
The defence highlighted a psychological report which opined Ward was “preoccupied by a perception” she had to “demonstrate overtly her worthiness by accumulating the extent at trappings of success”.
The court was told Ward wanted to present herself as “successful” and “unless she can accumulate the external trappings of achievement she is destined to be rejected and left on the periphery”.
The defence submitted Ward “manifested” a “preoccupation” to “show people that (she) was successful” and to “keep up” with the “affluent lifestyles she observed on social media”.
“Ms Ward concluded that unless she could demonstrate overtly her worthiness by accumulating the external trappings of success, she would be destined to experience recurrent rejection and so remain on the periphery of social groups as she had during her youth,” the psychologist explained.
“The strength of these concerns increased significantly once her first child was born since she feared that if she were not able to present herself as successful and to provide for her child in a manner similar to the children of her more affluent friends, he too would be excluded and hence suffer the same problems she had as a young person.
“Lacking access to resources in her own right, Ms Ward seems to have reasoned that she must either take advantage of the situation to enhance her ability to present an affluent appearance to others or else be doomed to face continued rejection and ostracism …”
The court heard Ward’s young child will join during her prison stint.
Judge Geoffrey Chettle said Ward was “rorting the system on an ongoing basis”.
Ward, who has repaid Medicare all the stolen cash, was jailed for two years but will be released onto a good behaviour bond after serving 12 months.
Judge Chettle said Ward’s child will join her at Dame Phyllis Frost later today.
