SLY FOX’S $118K RORT
A FORMER firefighter who rorted more than $118,000 from the Transport Accident Commission blamed post traumatic stress disorder and an opioid addiction for his serious offending.
Disgraced former volunteer firefighter Cameron Fox yesterday pleaded guilty to fraudulently obtaining $118,885.02 from the public insurer following a serious car accident in May, 2018.
The court heard Fox, who also pleaded guilty to a string of police charges, used an online system, LanternPay, to submit 100 “false and misleading” invoices for services and equipment in the weeks after the crash.
TAC prosecutor Grant Reynolds said Fox billed the TAC for invoices linked to his landscaping company.
Within 22 days Fox had claimed more than $100,000 of goods and services, that he had never received, and then attempted to siphon an additional $55,000.
Mr Reynolds said the TAC quickly caught on to Fox’s scam and ceased paying him.
Days after the failed scam came to halt, patrolling police found Fox and his partner asleep in a rental car parked within the grounds of a Lara primary school.
They found syringes consistent with heroin use, bundles of cash stashed around the car and 14 prepaid credit cards.
Police prosecutor Leading Senior Constable Geoff Lamb said one card was loaded with 8000 in Thai baht.
Senior-Constable Lamb said Fox told police he got the money from the TAC.
Fox’s lawyer, Jonathan Barreiro, said his client joined the CFA as a 16-year-old and had suffered “extreme and profound” post traumatic stress disorder directly linked to his efforts at the Black Saturday bushfires.
He said Fox had experienced “the extreme trauma of pulling bodies out of cars” and had lived with depression that only became more crippling as the years went on.
“Things started unravelling big time — he started having flashbacks, insomnia, nightmares and was blaming himself for the deaths,” Mr Barreiro said.
He said Fox, who was convicted of stealing from his former CFA station in 2017, became hooked on heroin after being prescribed opioids for a back injury.
In calling for Fox to be spared further jail time, Mr Barreiro said his client had turned to Buddhism, cleaned up his act and was determined to turn his life around.
Magistrate John Lesser sentenced Fox to 92 days’ jail — all of which has been served.
Fox was also fined $500, ordered to pay back the stolen TAC funds and must complete a 12-month community corrections order.