Darren Ostini leaves Orange court with custodial sentence and orders to pay $12,500

Darren John Ostini, 50, of Spring Street, was given a custodial sentence and community service in addition to the reparation orders after pleading guilty and appearing in Orange Local Court.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Beau Riley said the mouse plague and micro business dishonesty offences were prevalent in Orange.

He said two people came to town and helped others commit the offences and this type of offending has caused delays and increased scrutiny for genuine applicants.

"I'm not saying he's the mastermind of it, we know he's not the mastermind, it's prevalent in the community," Sergeant Riley said.

Magistrate Christopher McRobert said Ostini had a poor criminal history but they were mostly of a "trivial" nature.

According to the information provided to the court, a mouse plague rebate application was submitted on August 11, 2021, in Ostini's name and including his residential address.

An invoice for a home-made mouse catch/trap from The Rural Centre dated June 26, 2021, was submitted with the application.

On June 16, 2021, Ostini received a $500 payment for the rebate.

However, the invoice from The Rural Centre was viewed by representatives from Service NSW and police due to similar fraudulent applications being submitted by other Orange residents. A statement from The Rural Centre was also sent to the police confirming the invoices were false.

On October 19, 2021, Ostini also received $10,500 from Service NSW as payment for a Micro Business Support Grant and all funds were withdrawn from Ostini's account.

The payment was in response to an application made five days earlier using Ostini's name, email address, phone number and business ABN.

Eight files were submitted as supporting evidence for the application and they included graphs and spreadsheets that appeared to be authentic at first glance.

Ostini also claimed to have three employees and experienced a decline in turnover since June 26, 2021.

A police investigation established that at least three of the eight forms were obtained from websites about insurance claims timesheet templates and research publications.

Ostini was arrested at 7.55pm on May 7, 2022.

He was taken to Orange Police Station and Ostini admitted to supplying an unidentified friend with the personal information so they could fill out the application for him.

He said he never purchased mouse traps from The Rural Centre.

Regarding the Micro Business Support Grant he said he does have an ABN and his is a micro business owner and he made a loss during the lockdown and earns a living obtaining and selling scrap metal.

Ostini claimed to earn about $2000 a week from scrap work but said this could vary and said he did not have any business records on hand so he could not supply any supporting documents for the application and said he had never seen the reports documents before.

Solicitor Taras Maksymczuk said Ostini had a lengthy criminal record but requested leniency for breaching an existing Community Correction Order with his offending.

"In relation to the offending itself and the accused's criminal history, it's difficult to argue that the [custodial] threshold has not been crossed," Mr Maksymczuk said.

Mr McRobert gave Ostini an 18-month community-based custodial sentence by way of an Intensive Correction Order for 18 months for dishonestly obtaining the funds for the Micro Business Grant. Ostini was also ordered to complete 100 hours of community service and repay $10,500 to Service NSW.

For dishonestly obtaining financial advantage with the mouse plague rebate, Mr McRobert gave Ostini a 12-month ICO that will run at the same time.

He warned that Ostini would most likely serve the duration of the ICOs in full-time custody if he breaches them.

Mr McRobert also ordered Ostini to complete 50 hours of community service and repay the $500.

Ostini was also resentenced for breaching the previous good behaviour orders.

Mr McRobert gave him two $500 fines for breaching two 12-month Community Correction Orders he was given for two counts of driving while his licence was disqualified.

He also fined Ostini $500 for breaching a two-year Conditional Release Order without conviction that he was given for driving while disqualified in May 15, 2020.