DR FAKE IN HOUSE
Fake doctor steals thousands with sick joke on victims
A MAN faked he was a doctor – even arriving at people’s homes in bogus scrubs – so he could steal cars people were selling online.
Bradley Thomas Anthony Strauch, 25, also pretended to be a medico when he got a $30,000 advance at Surfers Paradise strip club Hollywood Showgirls, and gave a woman with Parkinson’s a medical examination.
A FAKE doctor made bogus scrubs, gave a medical examination to a woman with Parkinson’s and lied about performing surgery so he could steal cars people were selling online.
Bradley Thomas Anthony Strauch, 25, also pretended to be a medico when he got a $30,000 advance at Surfers Paradise strip club Hollywood Showgirls.
Strauch’s four-month crime spree did not stop there — he told a man he met on Grindr he was homeless and after being offered a place to stay, stole more than $100,400 from this bank account.
Strauch took more than $223,885 in cash and goods.
He still owes $141,656 — that money is not expected to be recovered.
It is not clear what happened to the money.
The first offending started in September 2016 and only stopped when police caught him in December 2016.
Crown prosecutor Natalie Lima described Strauch as someone who “preyed upon the trusting nature of people”.
“He was deceptive in conduct in that he attended in scrubs of a hospital,” she said.
“He preyed upon the good will the public generally have towards doctors.”
Strauch pleaded guilty in the Southport District Court yesterday to 14 counts of fraud, six counts of stealing and one count each of attempted fraud, forged documents and possessing child exploitation material.
Strauch was sentenced to five years in prison which was suspended yesterday after he had served two years and three months in pre-sentence custody.
Ms Lima told the court that during his crime spree, Strauch replied to seven advertisements to buy secondhand cars on the website Gumtree.
He would arrive at the seller’s house in scrubs, embroidered with his name, and armed with a fake receipt that money had been transferred.
The money never made it to the accounts.
Of the seven cars, only six were returned to the owners — one was damaged and another found in Victoria.
Ms Lima said at one of the homes Strauch gave a medical examination to an elderly woman with Parkinson’s disease.
The court was told Strauch also tried to buy a TV, blu ray machine and subwoofer from another man.
“When he commented he had been in hospital with a coma for three months, Strauch said he had operated on the complainant when he first went into hospital,” Ms Lima said.
The court was told Strauch’s offending first began in September 2016 when he met a man on dating app Grindr.
NATALIE LIMA
Strauch told the man his ex-boyfriend had taken his car and all his money and he had nowhere to live.
The man offered Strauch a place to stay and to help him find a job.
Within two weeks, Strauch made six transfers out of the man’s bank account totalling more than $100,000.
The court was told the man also purchased Strauch a laptop which was later found to contain videos of child sexual abuse.
Defence barrister Sarah Thompson, instructed by Howden Saggers Lawyers, said Strauch had a stroke at 21 and was suffering from mental health issues stemming from abuse as a child.
She said he planned to return to Western Australia to live with his mother and work in her antique shop.
HE WAS DECEPTIVE IN CONDUCT IN THAT HE ATTENDED IN SCRUBS OF A HOSPITAL. HE PREYED UPON THE GOOD WILL THE PUBLIC GENERALLY HAVE TOWARDS DOCTORS