Embezzler’s government job to be reviewed
A departmental chief is reviewing the employment of a woman who embezzled her employer out of $119,000 and was later given a job as a Families SA financial counsellor.
Education department chief executive Tony Harrison said today he would review why the woman was employed by Families SA (part of Harrison’s department), kept her job and was given a letter of support for consideration by the Magistrates Court when assessing sentencing options for the woman.
Harrison told FIVEaa’s Leon Byner this morning that he had only become aware of the issue after InDaily’s queries to Education Minister Jennifer Rankine this week.
“I’ve asked the executive director of human resources for an accurate and complete chronology of events in this matter,” Harrison said.
“Somebody in the department has elected to provide a letter of support or comfort to the court; that’s not a policy that I support.
“It would not be acceptable to me for an employee to provide a letter of support without the approval of a senior executive.”
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Harrison claimed he wasn’t aware, at this stage, who had written the letter of support.
The identity of that staff member was reported in InDaily’s story on Tuesday.
Harrison, a former senior police officer, was appointed chief executive of the Department of Education and Child Development in July, in a move that Premier Jay Weatherill said was designed to reassure parents in the wake of the Debelle report.
InDaily revealed yesterday that a State Government official provided a letter to the Magistrates Court stating the department knew of criminal proceedings at the time the woman was working as a financial counsellor for Families SA.
Court documents stated the woman’s history “is known to her employer”, a matter taken into account in decisions by the magistrate and later a Supreme Court judge in an appeal.
The Families SA employee, Mellisa Green, 32, was sentenced to 15 months’ gaol, with a non-parole period of eight months and recently won an appeal for the sentence to be suspended.
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She had pleaded guilty on 5 November 2010 to 16 counts of theft relating to the embezzlement of $118,978 from her employer (a software vendor) while working as an Administration Manager between February 2006 and December 2009.
In mid-2012, while still on remand for the 16 charges and having pleaded guilty, Green was moved to a position in Families SA as a financial counsellor in the Financial Counselling and Support program.
According to court transcripts, the court was advised by letter from Jenna Kovacs, a senior social worker at Families SA, that the department was aware of the charges being faced by Green.
The magistrate’s refusal to suspend the sentence was overturned on appeal to the Supreme Court by Justice Nicholson late last month.
In his reasons for decision, Nicholson referred to Green’s employment prospects at Families SA.
“On the information that was before the Magistrate together with the additional information placed before the Court on appeal there is every likelihood that the appellant will retain her career opportunities with Families SA should a suspended prison sentence be ordered,” Nicholson said.
“However, it would seem clear that an immediate term would cause her to lose her job and her career with Families SA (with the obvious financial consequences for the family).
“It would seem that, given her history (which is known to her employer, Families SA) the appellant has been extremely fortunate in being able to secure this particular career path with Families SA and the educational opportunities that are now available to her that will serve to promote that career path.
“As such, the present case is one where an immediate term of imprisonment is likely to cause irreparable harm to the quite exceptional level of rehabilitation already achieved.”
Nicholson said there was sufficient cause to suspend the sentence.
“I am satisfied, that the appellant’s personal circumstances as put before the Magistrate, when viewed in the light of the additional considerations I have canvassed, are such as to demonstrate good reason to suspend any prison sentence imposed and notwithstanding the undoubted need to provide for general deterrence in this area of offending and notwithstanding the undoubted seriousness of the offending itself.
“In any view, the prison term ordered, if suspended, should still have a significant general deterrent effect, particularly given the quite unusual circumstances in this case that have contributed to the decision to suspend.”
He ordered that the suspended sentence be on the conditions that Green be under the supervision of a Community Corrections Officer for the period of two years and continue with “such psychological and financial counselling as the supervising Community Corrections Officer requires”.
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