Paul Pisasale, Farmouz Farhaad Mohammed among criminal Ipswich identities - list

They were some of Ipswich’s most powerful people from former NRL players, politicians to high flying businessmen but their lives turned upside down after dabbling in crime. Now, Ipswich’s high profile criminals are named. Full list.

Some high-flyers might look like they have the world at their feet but you never know what is going on behind closed doors.

Several high-profile figures in Ipswich, from political leaders, business owners and former rugby league stars, have seen their reputations tarnished after being found guilty of crimes over the past several years.

Here’s a look at some of the legal cases involving prominent members of the community.

Paul Pisasale outside court in 2019. Picture: AAP Image/Dave Hunt

PAUL PISASALE

There aren’t many public figures in Ipswich’s history who have had a bigger fall from grace than the former ‘Mr Ipswich’.

Pisasale served as the city’s mayor for 13 years and his high-energy personality and knack for self-promotion saw him become a hugely popular figure.

He had public support politicians dreamt about, securing 83.45 per cent of the vote at his final election in 2016.

Paul Pisasale in his pomp. Photo: Claudia Baxter

The 70-year-old now spends his days behind bars after being sentenced to a seven-and-a-half year jail term in September last year.

He was sentenced for 35 offences committed while mayor, including sexual assault, fraud and official corruption crimes.

Pisasale is eligible for parole in October next year.

Anthony 'Chook' Fowler was the mastermind of the robbery of Falvey’s Cecil Hotel in Goodna. Picture: AAP Image/Jono Searle

ANTHONY ‘CHOOK’ FOWLER

Former top level rugby league player Anthony ‘Chook’ Fowler was the mastermind behind the robbery of his former employer, believing he could take off more than $100,000 alongside two co-offenders.

Instead the trio stole $20,000 from Falvey’s Cecil Hotel in Goodna in 2015, where Fowler had worked for three years.

The premeditated and planned robbery involved the hotel’s cleaner being manhandled and a replica pistol pressed to his head.

Fowler was a talented rugby leagyue player and boxer. Picture: David Nielsen

The boxer pleaded guilty to entering a premises with intent; robbery in company; and serious assault with intent to commit a crime.

Fowler was sentenced to four years and four months jail for the robbery in company charge, and two-and-a-half years jail for the other two charges, to be served concurrently.

He was eligible for parole in August 2019, after previously serving two months behind bars for assaulting a pub patron in 2013.

Former Ipswich City Council CEO Carl Wulff spoke publicly about life behind bars.

CARL WULFF

Ipswich City Council’s former top bureaucrat has spoken from behind bars about it being a living hell after being sent there for pocketing $241,000 in corrupt payments.

He took the money in exchange for awarding council contracts to friends.

Wulff was sentenced to five years in prison, to be suspended after 20 months, in 2019 after pleading guilty to two counts of official corruption and one count of attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Carl Wulff in better days.

The powerful former CEO was in the job from July 2006 to December 2013 but said he had to sell the family home to cover costs of lawyers and pay back any corrupt money he received.

“I’ve been through a lot of things in my life, divorces and death in the family and things like that, and all of those basically pale into insignificance compared to the impact of being charged with corruption and pervert the course of justice charge,” he said from jail.

Farmouz Farhaad Mohammed, known as Fred Mohammed, outside Ipswich Courthouse.

FARMOUZ FARHAAD MOHAMMED

A Brookwater businessman found guilty of committing frauds in excess of $237,000 while he was the director of a crane company will spend at least six months in prison.

Farmouz Farhaad Mohammed, also known as Fred Mohammed, was found guilty of three charges by a jury in June.

He cannot manage a corporation until December 2026 and he was handed a two-and-a-half jail sentence to be suspended for three years.

Mohammed (centre) won the 2014 Australian Transport and Logistics Young Achiever of the Year.

The jury heard the frauds were committed when the company went into liquidation in 2015 with significant debts, and reportedly owing the tax office $1.1 million and employee entitlements of between $300,000 and $400,000.

Mohammed, who was the director and sole shareholder of Crane Trucks R Us Pty Ltd, won an Australian Transport and Logistics Young Achiever of the Year award in 2014 and in 2015 received the northern region Entrepreneur of the Year award.

Former Boettcher Motors accountant Philip Horsfall was jailed after admitting ripping the car dealership off to the tune of $600,000 in a series of frauds.

PHILIP HORSFALL

A respected and experienced accountant ripped off a major Ipswich business where he had worked for 20 years for $600,000 after growing resentful over an apparent shortfall in his pay.

The series of fraud spanned more than a decade and he told police they were “easy” to carry out.

Horsfall pleaded guilty to charges that he committed fraud by dishonestly obtaining property from another as an employee of at least $100,000; and fraudulently falsified/altered a record in July last year.

The court heard he believed he was not being paid what he was worth by Boettcher Motors and he was undone after another employee became suspicious why a $10,000 cash transaction had gone into Horsfall’s personal bank account.

He had been helping himself to money from the car dealership from as far back as 2006.

Horsfall was sentenced to a five-year jail term to be suspended after he serves 15 months.

Edward Harold Pye outside Ipswich Courthouse.

EDWARD HAROLD PYE

The head of a transport company who ripped off creditors by taking about $550,000 from his failing business avoided jail but has a three-year good behaviour bond hanging over his head.

Lockyer Valley businessman Edward Harold Pye pleaded guilty to two charges of breaching his duties while the sole director of ERH Transport Services Pty Ltd in 2019.

After the company went into liquidation in 2014, Pye transferred the money into a trust for his son and employee Ben and another trust for himself.

Worrells Solvency and Forensic Accountants was appointed as liquidators of the business in July 2014 and the firm alerted the Australian Securities and Investments Commission to the misappropriation of ERH funds and charges followed.

Pye was handed a two-year jail sentence but walked free on a three-year good behaviour bond.

Stephen Donnelly’s family established the popular Big Dad’s Pies brand.

STEPHEN JOHN DONNELLY

A distinguished businessman whose family established the now defunct Big Dad’s Pies was jailed in 2018 after a jury found him guilty of committing fraud related to his The Pie Guru business.

He also pleaded guilty to two other fraud offences involving the franchise and was sentenced to time behind bars with the total fraud racking up to almost $79,000.

Donnelly was well known in Ipswich and around Queensland from his previous success operating Big Dad’s Pies that used his father’s bakehouse recipes.

The father of four went on trial for three charges that he committed a $30,000 fraud against businessman Antony Dutton; a $29,450 fraud against Rockhampton Pie Guru shop operator Stevan Davies; and a $2148.50 fraud against Michael Yerbury who had the Pie Guru Caloundra business.

There was a fraud of $11,000 against Schweppes Australia and another fraud of $6000 that involved the intended leasing of a Gladstone store from a real estate agency.

Mr Davies lost the money after paying it to Donnelly through the Don Family Trust account in the belief it would be used to lease the store for his second pie shop.

Donnelly pocketed the money.

He had previously convicted been obtaining about $38,000 by false pretences; been convicted by a Gympie court for fraud offences; and sentenced by the District Court at Brisbane in 1994 for more than a dozen charges of false pretences.

For the most recent offences, Donnelly was sentenced to three years’ jail for the most serious offence involving Mr Dutton and he received lesser concurrent jail terms of 18 months and 12 months for the others.

Donnelly was ordered to serve 12 months jail, with the remainder of the sentence suspended for five years.

BRETT CAMERON SMALLWOOD

An Ipswich account and former school prefect at prestigious Ipswich Grammar School was driven by greed as he defrauded clients and taxpayers to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Brett Smallwood was already serving a five-year jail sentence for defrauding $120,000 from clients in 2002 when he fronted court again in 2014.

Judge Leanne Clare sentenced Smallwood to an extra four-and-a-half years for 38 counts of deception towards the Australian Taxation Office where he falsified Business Activity Statements and sought GST refunds for which there was no entitlement.

He misappropriated the details of registered companies connected to his clients, many of which he knew had ceased trading.

The court heard he had used some of the money he obtained dishonestly for new business ventures and to spend on his family.

Read more stories by Lachlan McIvor here.

Originally published as Paul Pisasale, Farmouz Farhaad Mohammed among criminal Ipswich identities - list