David James Craigen charged with 10 more matters including fraud

The 54-year-old represented himself in court and claimed he could prove his innocence.

Former Toowoomba car salesman David James Craigen has faced court on 10 new charges.

Disgraced former Toowoomba car salesman David James Craigen has had another 10 charges laid against him by police.

The 54-year-old is serving nine months of a four-year jail term imposed by the Toowoomba District Court in August last year after he pleaded guilty to defrauding his then employer the Armstrong Auto Group of more than $150,000 dating back to 2018/19.

Those charge arose from the sale of some 15 vehicles, the profits of which he pocketed, and at sentence Craigen blamed a gambling habit and an expensive divorce for his offending behaviour.

Craigen appeared before Toowoomba Magistrates Court on Wednesday via video link from the prison to face new charges which included two counts of “fraud to the value of over $30,000 but less than $100,000”, as the charges appeared on the court list, and eight counts of stealing.

Craigen, who represented himself during the brief mention of the matters, told the court he needed to see a lawyer about the charges and asked for an adjournment.

He told Magistrate Howard Osborne that the money involved was a loan and that he hadn’t stolen it and that he had a signed agreement to that end.

However, he said the document was in a storage container which was why he needed to talk with a lawyer.

At his sentence hearing in the District Court in August, Craigen’s barrister David Jones told the court that his client was to plead guilty to the offence earlier that week, but he had used that day to place personal items into a storage shed he had hired knowing he was about to go to jail.

No particulars of the fresh charges were aired in the Magistrates Court and Craigen was not required to enter any pleas to the 10 counts.

Magistrate Osborne said he would adjourn the case so Craigen could obtain legal advice and remanded the 54-year-old in custody to appear back in the same court via video link from the prison for mention on February 9.