Working mum Stacey Johnson conned $42k from Centrelink in single parent welfare scam
A single mum working part-time in marketing has been nabbed illegally claiming cash from Centrelink. And the magistrate wasn’t impressed with her excuse for ripping off the taxpayer.
South East
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A welfare cheat who bled taxpayers out of more than $40,000 in a prolonged and persistent rort has blamed dyslexia for her swindle.
Stacey Maree Johnson faced Frankston Magistrates’ Court last Thursday after falsely claiming single parent benefits while she was employed.
Johnson cried as she pleaded guilty to one Department of Human Services rolled-up charge over the four-year plus rip-off.
The court heard she received overpayments totalling $42,067 by providing misleading information to Centrelink on 112 occasions between November, 2013, and February, 2018.
Johnson was working as a part-time marketing assistant at Specialist Diagnostic Services when she started her sustained swindle.
During that time she earned $139,806, but only declared $35,751 to authorities.
The court heard the single mum of one caught out by data matching because she used the same bank account for her wages and for her illegal Centrelink payments.
She received a total of $78,229 from the government purse even though she was only entitled to $36,162.
Her defence lawyer told the court Johnson was dyslexic and had made “poor decisions” because she didn’t understand the welfare system very well.
He said his client thought she only needed to declare what money she had left after she had paid rent, bought groceries and paid bills.
The lawyer said Johnson didn’t live a lavish lifestyle and the extra money was used to supplement her low annual part-time salary of about $35,000 a year.
But Magistrate Dominic Lennon, who refused media access to court documents, said her defence was “not plausible” considering she held down a marketing job which involved studying facts and figures.
Mr Lennon said she “knew the difference between right and wrong”.
“Another explanation is that it is pure greed,” Mr Lennon said.
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“It is a serious breach of trust, over a prolonged period of time, (involving) a large number of transactions, and a substantial amount of money.
“Everyone knows when on Centrelink payments you have to be upfront.”
Johnson was placed on an 18-month community corrections order and must do 150 hours of unpaid work.
She must also repay the Department of Human Services.