A man who falsely claimed $18,026.14 in Centrelink payments had repaid $5848.03 by the time he was sentenced in Orange Local Court on Monday.
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John Barry Jerrard, 52, of Margaret Street, pleaded guilty to two counts of Centrelink fraud after he was overpaid $9922.56 between February 1, 2011 and April 10, 2012, and $8103.58 between August 14, 2012 and March 26, 2013.
Magistrate Terry Lucas fined Jerrard $5000 for each charge and ordered him to pay the remaining $12,178.11 in compensation.
Jerrard was represented in court by solicitor Nidal Abdi.
“In terms of this offence, your honour will read from the pre-sentence report, he didn’t report his earnings because he was worried about losing his healthcare card,” Mr Abdi said.
“He is type two diabetic and he had a triple heart bypass last year.”
According to information provided to the court from Centrelink, Jerrard was employed on a casual basis with a mine services company.
During the first period he earned a gross income of $23,978.75 at an average of $856.38 gross income per fortnight but only declared $3121.80 after making 22 declarations of earning no income and six false under declarations.
During that February 1, 2011 to April 10, 2012 period, he received $14,377 in Newstart payments of which he was eligible for $4454.44.
For the second charge he earned $28,599.35 gross averaging $1143 gross per fortnight and also received $2079.10 in bonus payments and made 12 declarations of earning no income and six false under declarations.
During that period from August 14, 2012 to March 26, 2016, he declared $1064 and received $8914.06 in Newstart payments of which he was entitled to $810.48.