Woman, 32, pawns inflatable boat Threat of jail in $ 200 fraud

A WOMAN who pawned a stolen inflatable boat for cash has been handed a six- month jail term.

Jessica Porter, 32, pleaded guilty to fraud in Townsville Magistrates Court.

Prosecutor Sergeant Sharna Pegg said Porter sold an inflatable boat to Cash Converters in Kings Rd on February 16, 2015 for $ 200.

“The defendant signed a pledge to say the property was lawfully hers,” she said.

“Police discovered that four inflatable boats had been stolen from BCF Townsville. The boat used by the defendant was found to be one of those boats.”

Sgt Pegg said police returned the boat to BCF and Cash Converters was seeking $ 200 restitution from Porter.

“She does have an extensive criminal history with respect to property offending, particularly fraud,” she said.

Defence solicitor Tristan Carlos said Porter was not charged until November last year and had not offended in the past 2 ½ years.

Mr Carlos said as the boat did not have a serial number, police could not establish that it was stolen.

“She ( told police) that she had come into possession of the property from her partner and she’d been told that that property was stolen,” he said.

“So she was aware at that time that it would have been dishonest of her to obtain ( the cash).

“Certainly there has been a degree of co- operation, to the extent that she has made admissions against ( herself).”

Mr Carlos said Porter was a mother of three teenage children, two of whom live with their grandparents.

He said it was not a large amount of money and asked for immediate parole.

Magistrate Steven Mosch said Porter was on a suspended sentence at the time as she was convicted of fraud in September 2014.

He activated that fourmonth sentence and handed down another two- month sentence for the Cash Converters offence — a total of six months’ jail.

“I want you to give some thought today as to how it would impact upon the ( 15year- old son) living with you if you ended up serving time in custody over Christmas, for something as silly as pawning an inflatable boat to get $ 200,” he said.

“( Because) it was only $ 200, and secondly, 2 ½ years has now elapsed since this offence was committed, having to serve a short period of imprisonment would be counter- productive. I’d rather you get some stringent supervision on parole to assist your rehabilitation.”

She was ordered to pay $ 200 restitution and given immediate parole release.