Ipswich aged care worker Jennifer Kay Long caught stealing $180k from Centrelink
A southeast Queensland court has heard how a former aged care worker of “good character” managed to claim $180,368 in Centrelink payments, while details of a particularly terrible and traumatic incident were laid bare.
Ipswich
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An ex-aged care worker was jailed for claiming $180,368 in Centrelink payments that she fraudulently obtained by not declaring her income.
Crown prosecutor Matthew Le Grand said weekly, Jennifer Kay Long was claiming a $477 carer pension on top of her weekly earnings of $844.
The court heard the 61-year-old was of “good character” and had spent most of her life caring for others, and had to deal with a number of deaths personally and in the usually underpaid aged care sector.
Judge Anthony Rafter SC noted Long went through a particularly terrible and traumatic incident in 2002 when she watched her husband die.
Tragedy struck when Long’s late husband was driving to pick her up from work with their daughter in tow ready to hand out Easter eggs to residents at the aged care centre.
The mother of five heard the sirens and found her husband dying on the side of the road after a road rage incident caused him to crash.
The police investigator involved in the crash wrote a letter to the court detailing his admiration for how Long handled her and her daughter’s grief during the time.
The court also heard Long was currently supporting two of her adult sons, one of which was dealing with ice addiction and had stolen from his mother many times – including her wedding ring.
Judge Rafter SC said the Centrelink fraud occurred over two separate periods, and in the one year and seven months in between those periods she was entitled to the payments.
Long pleaded guilty to two charges of fraudulently obtaining funds by deception for five-and-a-half years.
Judge Rafter SC sentenced the mother to serve three months jail of a two-and-a-half-year head sentence as well as a $2000 recognisance.
After being sentenced Long exclaimed “fuck this,” to which her daughter in the gallery chided “mum”.
Long already began paying the Commonwealth back the money, although she still owes $76.972.
Originally published as Ipswich aged care worker Jennifer Kay Long caught stealing $180k from Centrelink
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