Nicole Debs calling out police over phone tapping
Nicole Debs is attempting to find out why police were tapping her phone when she was allegedly captured in a minor fraud.
Police & Courts
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Nicole Debs is attempting to find out why police were tapping her phone when she was allegedly captured in a minor fraud.
Ms Debs, who now goes by another surname, faced Melbourne Magistrates Court on Friday charged with an alleged $1800 deception involving her workplace.
It is understood the police sting, which occurred between March and June in 2021, was in relation to Ms Debs becoming an alibi witness for her former boyfriend, Jason Roberts, who was facing retrial over the Silk-Miller police murders in 1998.
Mr Roberts was acquitted of the Silk-Miller murders on July 11 this year.
Ms Debs, 42, who is a nurse, appeared in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court via video.
The Herald Sun has previously reported Ms Debs’ phone was being tapped when she obtained a medical certificate to be absent from work.
She was subsequently spotted by police walking without wearing a moon boot.
Police also allege that during her absence, she worked voluntarily at another medical facility while still being paid by her main employer.
The sting resulted in Ms Debs’ being raided by up to half a dozen fraud detectives who seized her phone and a computer.
Victoria Police reported the alleged offence to medical watchdog Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency, leading to her nursing registration being suspended.
Ms Debs, however, is requesting “relevant disclosure” from the Lorimer task force about the phone tap as she fights the case.
The court heard that it was “known from the face of the affidavit (it was) to assist an offender”.
Ms Debs pulled out of giving evidence at the retrial of Mr Roberts just weeks before she was due to be called by the defence.
Ms Debs’ doctor, Irene Lepustin and another patient, John La Rocco, are also facing charges.
A five day trial has been scheduled for February 6, 2023.
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