A WERRIBEE woman has pleaded guilty to stealing almost $40,000 from Centrelink by claiming she was a carer for her dead grandmother.
Debra Frith faced Werribee Magistrates Court last Wednesday on two charges of obtaining property by deception after the Department of Human Services discovered her grandmother had died in 2003.
The court heard the 49-year-old had falsely claimed carer’s payments for more than two years.
Due to prior convictions, the Department of Public Prosecutions said a term of imprisonment was “within range”.
Frith will undergo a psychological assessment before magistrate Bernard Fitzgerald decides if she will be jailed when she reappears at Sunshine Magistrates Court in September.
Frith received the carer payment and carer allowance between July 2004 and August 2006, during which time she had provided “extensive details about the nature of care” in interviews with Centrelink staff.
She was paid a total of $39,914. She has since repaid $4415.
DPP spokeswoman Kathy Medved said the fraud had been picked up by Centrelink’s data-matching system.
Mr Fitzgerald said the offending was a “very serious matter” under the Commonwealth Criminal Code.
Frith had failed to appear at a court appearance two years ago.
The court heard Frith suffers from depression and other mental health issues. Her lawyers said the offending should be viewed as less serious because she would have been entitled to unemployment benefits.
“What she hasn’t done is face reality and realise she needs to get back into the workforce,” her defence counsel said.
