Ex-Clarence Medical Centre manager Angela Jane Bliss, 51, sentenced for fraud

A trusted former Northern Rivers medical clinic manager used tens of thousands of dollars she fraudulently obtained from the business to buy items for herself – ending in a firm rebuke from a court.

Angela Jane Bliss, 51, was sentenced in Grafton court on Tuesday after 55 charges of fraud against her were dropped. Photo Adam Hourigan

She was a trusted clinic manager who betrayed a Northern Rivers medical centre defrauding them for personal gain.

And while most charges were withdrawn, the spending spree and conviction of Angela Jane Bliss, 50, casts a shadow of broken trust.

Bliss was the former practice manager of Clarence Medical Centre at Maclean, where police had initially alleged she had defrauded her former employer out of a total of $76,259.99 between 2016 and 2022.

However, while she initially faced a staggering 56 charges of dishonestly obtaining a financial advantage by deception, on Tuesday police proceeded with only one “rolled up charge” consisting of two transactions.

Angela Bliss outside Maclean Local Court on October 12, 2023.

Bliss pleaded guilty to using a company credit card to buy an infra-red sauna costing $11,099 and $10,000 of crypto currency from Coinspot in 2021.

Court documents show that prosecutors withdrew 54 allegations upon Bliss’ guilty plea to dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception.

In 2017 then practice manager Angela Bliss (second from right) with Dr Simon Grewcock, Dr Eric Davey, Dr Maggie Simpson and Dr Kalpana Thakur at the Clarence Medical Centre in Yamba.

In prior court proceedings police had alleged that Bliss made purchases with a company credit card and also withdrew money from a company bank account.

On Tuesday in Grafton Local Court Bliss was sentenced to a community correction order of 18 months with supervision from Community Corrections and 75 hours of community service work.

Bliss no longer works at the Yamba based practice.

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Originally published as Ex-Clarence Medical Centre manager Angela Jane Bliss, 51, sentenced for fraud