Two Canberra men who defrauded the agency responsible for managing the money of some of the capital's most vulnerable people have been handed jail sentences.
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Stephen Evans, 33, will spend at least 17 months locked up, while Donald Tawanda Savanhu, 38, avoided time behind bars after his 18-month prison sentence was fully suspended.
The pair were among four men charged for scamming $1.65 million from the ACT Public Trustee's office.
The trustee helps to care for Canberrans who, as a result of illness, accident or disability, must give someone else the power of attorney to make decisions on their behalf.
ACT courts have previously heard that Evans, Joshua Leighton, 38, and Timothy McLeod, 34, ran a scam whereby they would lodge false requisition forms, and be paid, for work that was never completed.
The men would then split the ill-gotten cash.
Savanhu's crimes were similar but mostly unrelated.
Both Savanhu and Evans both pleaded guilty to a number of offences and appeared for sentence in the ACT Supreme Court on Thursday.
The court heard Evans - a contractor for the Public Trustee - would take money for maintenance work he never completed on properties belonging to the agency's clients.
Evans would then withdraw the cash and split it 50/50 with trust officer Timothy Stewart McLeod.
The pair stole $287,373.95 via the method over a five year period.
Evans' personal share of the scam was $143,687.
The court heard he had not yet started repaying the stolen money and had shown little remorse.
Justice Michael Elkaim, in handing down sentence, said he had little option but to send Evans to jail.
Justice Elkaim sentenced the offender to a total of three-years-and-nine-months jail, with a non-parole period of 17 months.
Evans will be eligible for release in January, 2019.
Earlier on Thursday, Justice Elkaim also sentenced Savanhu - a trust officer with the agency - for stealing $28,654 via 36 fraudulent transactions between March 2011 and January 2014.
Savanhu would create false cheque requisition forms requesting funds be paid out on behalf of clients for maintenance or capital works on their property.
But the work was never carried out, or didn't match what had been promised.
Savanhu's swindle was exposed when the Public Trustee discovered a client had paid for work on property that was never completed.
An investigation uncovered a string of suspicious transactions that involved several contractors and clients whose assets were mostly managed by two trust officers, one of whom was Savanhu.
One of the contractors, who had known the defendant through the ACT's African community since 2005, told police he would send invoices to Savanhu, the offender would then transfer payment, only to cancel the job and have the contractor pay him back the money.
The court heard he had already repaid half the money, and would continue to payback the cash at $500 per month.
Joshua Leighton, 38, was jailed earlier this year for a minimum of 19 months after he admitted to more than 100 dodgy transactions that amounted to $675,000.
The court heard Leighton had spent the money at brothels and on pokies.
McLeod, 35, is expected to be sentenced later this year.
