Man who admitted to $25,000 fraud remanded in custody

A 35-YEAR-OLD man who admitted to using another man’s identity to obtain $25,000 in loans will spend the festive season behind bars after a Toowoomba magistrate remanded him in custody.

Johnathan Lee Hardy pleaded guilty to a total 25 offences but during defence submissions his solicitor Jag MacDonald sought an adjournment, telling Toowoomba Magistrates Court he would have his client psychologically assessed.

Police prosecutor Senior Constable Christie Mahoney told the court Hardy had been working at a car dealership in Springfield Lakes when he obtained the identification details of a customer looking to obtain a loan for a car.

He used those details in May to obtain a $24,551 loan from a bank to buy a vehicle which only came to light when the bank contacted the complainant man who hadn’t applied for a loan.

The car had been seized and sold for $13,000 but $12,800 remained outstanding, Snr Const. Mahoney said.

In April when working for a department store in Indooroopilly he had stolen seven bottles of perfume valued at $1216, she said.

Mr MacDonald said his client had at the time been in a violent domestic relationship with a partner who used drugs.

His client had also taken to using drugs and he had taken the perfume to sell to obtain drugs, he said.

After further consultation with his client in court, Mr MacDonald asked for an adjournment to obtain a psychological report.

Magistrate Viviana Keegan adjourned the sentence to January 23 in the same court but refused bail and remanded Hardy in custody.