Fraudsters and thieves of the Wide Bay Burnett | 2023
From council, school and hospital workers’ dodgy acts, to flood looters, a list of local names and faces to watch for can be revealed.
Police & Courts
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From opportunistic wallet grabs to plans with years of preparation, acts of fraud often rise from someone seeking a quick and easy way to make a little extra cash.
There were various reasons heard by the court for the offences, with some even giving the money away.
Meet some of the Wide Bay Burnett’s most opportunistic fraudsters who racked up income from a few hundred bucks to a few hundred thousand:
Convictions recorded
Dylan Scott McCaw
A North Burnett council worker barely avoided extra jail time after he used his privileged position to gain access to a number of bank cards belonging to local community members and spent more than $3000 across Bundaberg.
Dylan Scott McCaw pleaded guilty to 38 charges, including fraud, receiving tainted property and attempted fraud at the Bundaberg Magistrates Court on February 28, 2022.
The court heard the council worker had received stolen debit and credits over a five-month period in 2021 and had used them across the region, racking up $3,878.46 in purchases.
McCaw’s legal representative told the court the 27-year-old had been exposed to abuse and domestic violence in his youth, triggering mental health issues and a drug addiction.
The father of two had served 152 days in pre-sentence custody and was released on parole and given a head sentence of just shy of 18 months, to be served cumulatively.
Antonio Doctor Houston
A “breach of trust” landed a 33-year-old hospital worker in court after he defrauded a family friend out of more than $9000 to buy Pokemon cards, a Bundaberg Magistrates Court has heard.
Antonio Doctor Houston pleaded guilty to one count of fraud and one of attempted fraud at the Bundaberg Magistrates Court on August 30, 2023.
The court heard Houston had arranged to receive some funds as a gift from his aunt’s partner to buy a car in late 2022.
Instead, using access Houston had gained to the man’s bank accounts, he made several purchases for Pokemon cards, among other things, amounting to $9,675.40, in what his legal representative called a “misunderstanding.”
Magistrate John McInnes opposed the idea of a “misunderstanding” and said “he’s pleaded guilty on the basis that he acted dishonestly.
“You can’t commit fraud from a misunderstanding.”
Houston was sentenced to two years in jail, wholly suspended for the fraud charge and a conviction was recorded.
He was further convicted but not further punished for attempted fraud.
Restitution was sought for $9,675.40, with a seven-day request for $1000 and the remaining amount sent to SPER.
Brett Ingliss Bayldon
An opportunistic thief was lucky to avoid Christmas 2022 in jail after he stole a wallet from a car and in a grinch-like move racked up hundreds of dollars worth of purchases on alcohol, tobacco and cigarettes.
Brett Ingliss Bayldon pleaded guilty in Bundaberg Magistrates Court in November 2022 to attempted fraud, six counts of fraud and two counts of entering a premises and committing an indictable offence.
The court heard in April earlier that year the 31-year-old was walking through an industrial estate when he nabbed a wallet from the centre console of a car.
Over the following days, Ingliss made purchases amounting to $476.35, and told the court he had done so because he was upset due to a relationship breakdown.
The spree only stopped when the owner of the wallet, realising it was missing, reported it to police who made their mark from CCTV footage of the theft.
Magistrate Edwina Rowan sentenced him to a head sentence of one months’ jail, suspended for six months with $476.35 restitution sought, referred to SPER.
Joanne Lee Rogers
A Bundaberg teacher’s aid was jailed after she used her access to NDIS funds to accumulate more than $90,000 all to fund a lifestyle of meth use and gambling.
Joanne Lee Rogers pleaded guilty in Bundaberg District Court to two counts of obtaining financial advantage by deception in August 2022.
The court heard the 48-year-old had worked as a teacher’s aid before becoming qualified for disability care and after working for a local support service started her own business in Bundaberg.
From there she began logging false jobs for cleaning and general errands, and between her registration with the NDIS in 2018 and her arrest in 2020 had accumulated $97,589.90 from uncompleted jobs.
Judge Tony Moynihan said while Rogers had made full admissions, she had breached the trust of an organisation aimed at helping the community’s most vulnerable.
“You used the proceeds to fund your lifestyle including gambling and drug taking,” he said.
“You have defrauded the Commonwealth of a significant amount of money.”
Rogers was sentenced to a head sentence of 2.5 years’ jail, to be released after serving four months on a $1000 recognisance alongside paying $50,000 in reparation to the Commonwealth.
Corey Jye Walters
A man who used counterfeit cash to purchase goods at stores in Childers and Murgon didn’t know dodgy money was illegal because his late grandmother previously put fake notes in poker machines, a court heard.
Corey Jye Walters pleaded guilty in Bundaberg Magistrates Court in May, 2023 to one charge of fraud, two charges of possessing counterfeit money and numerous drug offences.
The court heard the Gin Gin man used a counterfeit $50 note to purchase an energy drink and gum at Childers in Woolworths, receiving $39 in change, though when he tried to make another purchase that day, he was turned away.
A week later, he tried again to use the cash at a Murgon service station, but after a suspicious staff member consulted with management, Walters left without the note.
The court heard the notes were easily identifiable as counterfeit currency due to them containing large blue text in an Asian-language script on both sides.
When he was arrested, Walters told police he didn’t know that it was an offence to possess counterfeit currency due to his grandmother using them on pokie machines.
Walters was sentenced to eight months imprisonment with immediate parole.
Lloyd John Tree
A Tin Can Bay sailor was jailed after he posed as a dead man for almost two decades and successfully scammed the Australian Government out of more than $330,000.
Lloyd John Tree pleaded guilty to five charges, including defrauding the Commonwealth, giving false or misleading information in relation to an Australian travel document, and three charges of obtaining financial advantage by deception.
The court heard the 76-year-old spent years using a false identity to gain a passport and numerous government benefits after he first assumed the identity of Russell Graham Tree in 1998, after the real Russell Tree passed away in Western Australia almost 50 years earlier in 1948.
With the false identity, he obtained a second passport and scammed Federal Government out of $337,313.77 in social security benefits, while already receiving social security benefits in his own name, an act which continued for 18 years.
He was jailed for four years, with a parole date of January 18, 2024.
Karma Melissa Donald
A modest initiative to expand a Maryborough kindergarten escalated to a more “grandiose vision” to buy a $1.5 million hospital with the committee president transferring $50,000 of the kindergarten’s money into her own account.
Hervey Bay District Court heard Karma Melissa Donald was president of the Carramar Community Kindergarten and preschool committee when she broached expanding the kindergarten by moving it to a block of land next to a private hospital in Maryborough.
When the possibility of buying the hospital itself for $1.5 million was discussed, Donald became enthusiastic for a more expansive project involving transforming the hospital into a community hub.
Without the knowledge or agreement of the full committee, $50,000 was transferred from the kindergarten’s bank account to the account for a new business registered by Donald and some of the other committee members.
Despite her fundraising efforts and a high media profile, Donald and the committee were unable to raise sufficient funds for a deposit for the hospital and the sale fell through.
At this point, Donald did not return the funds to the kindergarten account, but withdrew $20,000 from the business account, half of which she paid into her deceased mother’s bank account and the remainder given to another person “as a gift”.
The rest of the kindergarten’s funds were wasted on poor business initiatives, such as a furniture bank and other purchases, including business expenses and trips to Brisbane for Donald and another person incurring accommodation, food and alcohol expenses.
Donald’s fraudulent behaviour was exposed when a new kindergarten president was elected, who after noticing gaps in the financial records amounting to $50,000 demanded an explanation from Donald.
With Donald unable to pay back the full amount, the matter went to police and then Hervey Bay District Court where she pleaded guilty to one count of fraud.
The court heard the impact on the kindergarten had been significant, with the loss of the money leaving them in dire financial straits.
The crown prosecutor said Donald’s actions were a “gross breach of trust”, and she and the others involved should have been aware that they were “utterly incapable of properly pursuing to completion an enormous property development, multiple leasing health precinct”.
Donald was sentenced to two and a half years in prison, wholly suspended for four years and she was ordered to pay $25,000 in compensation.
Margaret Joyce Hull
When the employee of a former Fraser Coast citizen of the year and respected businessman faced court for fraud charges, the hearing exposed a system of fraudulent transfers amounting to more than $1 million from client accounts to business and personal accounts spanning several years
Margaret Joyce Hull was employed as an administrator at a real estate agency owned by a prominent Coast businessman Trevor Cecil.
Hervey Bay District Court heard that when the agency got into financial difficulty in 2010, money was transferred from 29 body corporate accounts managed by the agency into the main company account.
While this practice was to persist through the following seven years, not all the funds were transferred to the business account – the court heard $700,000 was transferred into Hull’s personal account after Mr Cecil’s death in 2017.
When the company accounts were reviewed following Mr Cecil’s death, Hull first feigned ignorance and then attempted to stall the review while she transferred hundreds of thousands of dollars from the company account back into the body corporate accounts.
The judge said Hull’s behaviour was explained in part by her misplaced loyalty to Mr Cecil, but nevertheless she had taken the money fraudulently in order to save the business and then for personal benefit.
Hull was sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison, with a parole eligibility date of October 27, 2023.
Jade Goldsworthy
A Hervey Bay mother of four children convicted of fraud got only a packet of cigarettes out of pawning a stolen PlayStation and games for a friend.
Hervey Bay Magistrates Court heard later that day, Jade Goldsworthy picked up a friend from an area nearby the man’s house and drove to Cash Convertors where she pawned the games for $50.
Two days later, Goldsworthy pawned the PlayStation for $120 at Pennywise in Hervey Bay.
The court heard most of the money from the sale of the stolen goods went to her friend, with Goldsworthy receiving only a packet of cigarettes for her trouble.
The 43-year-old pleaded guilty to receiving tainted property and to fraud when she faced Hervey Bay Magistrates Court in August, 2023.
Goldsworthy was fined $500 and ordered to pay $170 restitution.
Marlee Curtis Leonard
A man stole fuel while driving stolen cars on at least four separate occasions before using one of the cars to ram a Gympie jewellery store.
Marlee Curtis Leonard pleaded guilty to four counts of unlawful use of a motor vehicle, three counts of fraud, breaking and entering at premises with stealing, possessing a firearm, threatening violence, dangerous operation of vehicle, evading police, driving without a licence and obstructing a police officer when he faced Maryborough District Court in May 2023.
The 23-year-old and three other people smashed glass cabinets in Goodyear Jewellers in Gympie after ramming the store, making off with watches and jewellery worth more than $41,000.
About two weeks later, Leonard was involved in a police pursuit after threatening a friend’s neighbour with a sawn-off shotgun and firing it in the air.
After driving dangerously through the Gympie streets, Leonard jumped from a bridge into the Mary River, swimming in the river for about 30 minutes before he surrendered to police.
Leonard was sentenced to four years in prison, with a parole eligibility date of September 26, 2023.
Aidan Joseph Gray
This fraudster tricked people mostly aged in their 60s and 70s into buying non-existent goods through Facebook Marketplace.
Aidan Joseph Gray pleaded guilty to 10 counts of fraud and two counts of using a carriage service in the form of online messaging to threaten or harass in Gympie Magistrates Court on Tuesday via video link.
The 34-year-old purported to sell goods, mostly jewellery, through the popular platform while promising buyers he would send the goods after the funds were received into his bank account.
Gympie Magistrates Court heard he was able to collect $5,020 in this way, defrauding money from a range of unwitting victims, including a foster carer working in the Department of Child Safety.
When $410 worth of goods did not arrive as expected, the carer tried to make contact with Gray through his Facebook profile but was blocked, after which Gray sent him many abusive messages, including threats to post his name on an “online child rapist page”.
His lawyer told the court Gray had a meth addiction and suffered from poor mental health for which he was not medicated.
Gray was sentenced to 12 months prison with release on parole after 51 days due to time already served.
Kyle Mitchell Lino Ambrosetti
A former private school student looted a Gympie shop during the 2022 floods and defrauded Bunnings by switching over price labels on a power tool.
Kyle Mitchell Lino Ambrosett pleaded guilty to 15 charges including entering premises with intent, two counts of obstructing police, contravening a police protection notice, evasion offence, fraud, contravening police direction, possessing a pipe or utensils and possessing property used in a commission of a crime.
Addicted to meth following a long-term relationship break-up the former St Patrick’s College student, broke into a Mary St store while it was vulnerable due to the flooding of the Gympie CBD in May 2022.
Ambrosetti also defrauded Bunnings by sticking a “reduced to $200” label on a power tool worth $500.
Ambrosetti’s lawyer told Gympie Magistrates Court his client had a bad experience while in custody, including being assaulted and having his meals taken from him, which made him determined to turn over a new leaf.
Sentenced to 50 days in prison, Ambrosetti was released after eight days due to time already served.
Justin Clive Fankenhauser
A $1600 per week cocaine habit drove this father of two children to defraud more than $60,000 worth of stock from his employer.
Justin Clive Fankenhauser pleaded guilty in Bundaberg Magistrates Court on Tuesday to one count of fraudulently falsifying or destroying records and one count of stealing by clerks or servants.
The court heard he was employed as a sales, service and parts manager for Formatt Machinery when he used his position to purchase automotive parts for use in his own business.
To cover up his offending, which occurred over a three-year period, Fankenhauser falsified inventory records and adjusted stock quantities.
When his employer finally confronted him about the suspected theft, Fankenhauser broke down and confessed to having a cocaine habit costing about $1600 per week.
He returned a trailer worth $25,000 and promised to pay back $25,000 cash.
Fankenhauser was sentenced in Bundaberg Magistrates Court to six months’ jail, suspended for 18 months, and ordered to pay $25,000 restitution to his employer within seven days.
No convictions recorded
David Morgan Rees
A Gympie landscaper racked up almost $900 worth of charges after he went on a shopping spree with his cousin’s credit card in an act of revenge over a stolen dog.
David Morgan Rees pleaded guilty to eight counts of fraud in the Gympie Magistrates Court on September 19, 2022.
The court heard Rees made three online purchases and multiple paywave transactions at Gympie Central Shopping Centre, and even split purchases to avoid needing a PIN number.
The 19-year-old was seeking revenge against his cousin, who had stolen Rees’ dog, defence lawyer Mark Oliver told the court.
The court was told Rees did not profit from any of the transactions and had cancelled the online charges the same day they were made, along with giving away a silver chain worth $179 to random members of the community.
Rees was ordered to pay a $300 fine and $409.10 in restitution. No convictions were recorded.
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