An office manager who caused the financial demise of her employer after defrauding them of about $19,000 has had her time behind bars reduced after collapsing in court.
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Naomi Reeves, 38, faced the ACT Magistrates Court on Thursday after pleading guilty to five counts of obtaining property by deception and one of theft.
Court documents state that the Karabar woman was working as office manager of Insulpro, which incorporates The Solar Family Pty Ltd, between July and November in 2019 when she defrauded the companies of about $19,000.
This involved instances of her transferring money from the businesses into her own account, which included getting a customer to send $9000 in six transactions and amending invoices to redirect money to her.
In one incident, Reeves arranged for a customer to attend her Queanbeyan residence where the customer paid $1500 in cash, believing it was payment for work carried out by The Solar Family.
Reeves was caught after the business's accountant found several discrepancies.
Even after being relieved of her role, she used one of the companies' fuel cards 34 times totalling $3041 until late January 2020.
The financial impact forced the business to close down.
During a police interview, she said she could not recall the details because she was off her medications and that her employment was a "blur".
In her previous appearance on October 26, the court heard Reeves had arranged for her dogs to be put down prior to that appearance because she expected to go to jail.
As Magistrate Robert Cook began to sentence her, Reeves collapsed and had to be taken to hospital, adjourning the sentencing to a later date.
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On Thursday, defence lawyer Andrew Fraser tendered medical material and asked Mr Cook to consider Reeves as a prisoner at risk.
The magistrate sentenced her to 2-6 months' jail for each offence, with four of the terms fully suspended while two months of the other terms must be served together before they are suspended if she agrees to a 15-month good behaviour order.
Those two months were reduced from the four that Mr Cook indicated during the previous court session before it was halted.
Mr Cook said he considered Reeves' hospitalisation and other significant health issues but that he remained satisfied jail terms, albeit reduced, must still be served.
"As was highlighted by the prosecutor, this was not a large corporation that had relevant protection in place," Mr Cook said.
"This is a family company trying to do it its best in the capital to provide services only to see the loss in relation to that business."
The prospect of seeing me again is not one that you'd want.
- Magistrate Robert Cook
Mr Cook said despite Reeves saying she could not remember the details of her offending because she was off her medications, he could not see that connection from the evidence.
He said that her non-compliance with medications did not have "any interruption to the systematic manner by which the defendant went about taking the earnings of the company".
He said that Reeves was a prisoner at risk and urged her to "receive the benefits of any support services available to you while in custody".
The court heard Reeves has a history of similar financial dishonesty offending, including in NSW, that dates back to 2012.
Mr Cook told Reeves to "tap into support services" while in jail to address the cycle of such offending.
"That'll be the real test going forward, otherwise the prospect of seeing me again is not one that you'd want," he said.
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