Fraudster Douglas Johnston targeted Collingwood fans after prison release over $850k scam
Fraudsters Douglas and Maureen Johnston were at the footy for reasons other than barracking for the Collingwood Football Club. And while the couple preyed on new targets among their club’s fanbase, the husband was hiding a secret past.
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Just three years after one-time accountant Douglas Johnston was released from prison for a scam totalling almost $850,000, he began seeking new targets while watching the footy.
The 76-year-old and his second wife Maureen convinced friends they met through the Collingwood Football Club to invest with them, but instead took their money to pay off credit cards and for their own investments.
Between January 2010 and November 2013, he defrauded five people of $815,000.
While the Johnstons went about ripping off their friends, they were members of Crown Casino’s loyalty club where Johnston gambled away more than $422,181.
County Court Judge Wendy Wilmoth on Tuesday sentenced Johnston to six years in jail with a non-parole period of three years for his role in the scam.
The judge noted the enormous harm to the victims of the Johnstons’ “entrenched dishonesty”, singling out a couple who gave them $720,000 for property investments in Melbourne and the US.
The judge blamed Johnston for “virtually ruining their lives”.
“You had a callous disregard for the trust placed in you,” she said.
Victim Kim Westlake said meeting the Johnstons had a devastating effect on her life and cost her $140,000.
She said she met them via Rotary and soon struck up a friendship which led to dinners at their house and shopping trips together.
The scamming duo preyed on the then-single mum, promising to help improve her financial situation.
The Johnstons offered big returns from a self-managed superannuation fund, which would be managed by Doug.
Ms Westlake said she believed the Johnstons were of considerable wealth, due to their lavish home, Maureen’s jewellery and her large collection of Collingwood memorabilia.
“They found out what I had, pulled me aside, and said they could help me retire early,” she said.
“I don’t know how people sleep at night.”
Ms Westlake said the sentence wasn’t long enough considering Doug’s prior history but said she was glad to see him behind bars.
“My amount of money was a pittance compared to some of the other people, one lady lost her home, another lost their life savings,” she said.
“It scarred me for life. It’s very hard to trust people now.”
Last December, Maureen Johnston was jailed for 5½ years after admitting to scamming victims out of more than $1 million.
Judge Wilmoth said Johnston deserved a harsher penalty due to his previous involvement in a similar scheme and his complete lack of remorse.
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“Your moral capability is greater if only because you had already acted gravely in the past,” the judge said.
In 2002, Johnston was jailed for his involvement in a $843,000 scam, and 13 years earlier, he was slapped with a community-based order for working as an unregistered accountant.
In 2006, he was released from prison and by 2009, he began to “pursue new targets”, the judge said.
Johnston will also have to compensate some of his victims.
— With AAP