A former Commonwealth treasury employee who stole people's identity and thousands of dollars in various types of fraud will be sent to prison if she goes against a promise of good behaviour.
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Karen Dianne Milliken, 42, was sentenced in the ACT Magistrates Court on Wednesday to nine months jail, but the last six months was suspended on her entering a good behaviour order. She has already served about three months in prison.
The former public servant of 22 years will have to comply with conditions, including accepting the supervision of corrective services. Magistrate Louise Taylor said Milliken had sought help to better herself, and appeared to be "clean and sober" after an addiction to methamphetamine.
Milliken appeared to have moved on from abusive relationships, sometimes characterised by drug use, and seemed to be in a "very different place" from the time of her offending, the magistrate said.
She was hopeful Milliken was at very low risk of reoffending.
Milliken pleaded guilty to 13 offences, including obtaining property and financial advantage by deception.
In some instances, she arranged for health fund premiums to be taken from other people's accounts, and then fabricated receipts for health services, the court heard.
The funds for those claims were deposited into accounts controlled by Milliken.
One of Karen Dianne Milliken's victims felt "totally violated" and continued to suffer anxiety and fear that people sitting in their cars near her home were accessing her internet, the court heard at a sentence hearing last month.
Another victim, who had been friends with Milliken, said through her victim impact statement how she felt "such a fool" and that her credit rating remained low as a result of the crimes.
On handing down the sentence, Ms Taylor described Milliken's behaviour as a "breach of trust".
Milliken also made multiple fraudulent transactions in Flexischools, a system into which people put credit to buy school items. Money could not be taken out of the Flexischools system, only put in; one factor that contributed to some of Milliken's attempts at getting money being not particularly successful, the court heard.
She repeatedly attempted to take out bank loans in other people's names and also provided false information to the tax office.
The total advantage gained was a bit more than $16,000. Milliken had since reimbursed most of the money, while banks had refunded other victims.
