Fraud charges near 100

A WOMAN who was jailed last year for selling fake sporting tickets and accommodation will be sentenced for almost 100 extra fraud charges.

Julie- Ann Kristeen Yeowell, 36, had been in prison for 17 months after defrauding clients through her Cannonvale business Universal Sports Tours.

She was sentenced to 2 ½ years’ prison when she appeared in Proserpine Magistrates Court last May on fraud charges. The court heard she was due for release on parole on November 30 last year, but a month before her release she was charged with a further 66 counts of fraud arising out of the same period.

She was due to be sentenced yesterday but police charged her with a further 28 more fraud charges last week.

The court heard Yeowell had defrauded clients out of more than $ 150,000.

Prosecutor Subarna Raut said Yeowell’s offences took place from May 2015 to November last year.

“In my submission, while these new charges all come within the same time frame, what it helps us to appreciate is the extent of the offending and how seriously the defendant has defrauded these victims,” he said. The court heard that Yeowell sold packages for trips to sporting events, complete with flights, tickets and accommodation, including State of Origin matches.

Solicitor Tristan Carlos said Yeowell was at risk at serving more time than necessary by the time the matter reached sentencing and successfully applied for bail.

“Now my friend referred to offending going up until No- vember of 2016, she was in prison and the only explanation that it could be is that these were events that had been organised prior to her going into custody with the payments being made at a later stage after she had been incarcerated,” he said.

“To give your honour an example ... the complainant contacted the defendant and negotiated a package to attend one of the 2016 State of Origin rugby league matches. The complainant was one of 16 persons who were in that party to attend that event as a group.

“So there had been negotiations of the package at an early stage and subsequent payments could have been made many months down the track.”

Magistrate Howard Osborne granted bail on the conditions that Yeowell does not use an Australian Company Number or an Australian Business Number or carry out any kind of business.

The matter will next be mentioned on November 15.