Theft causes financial ruin
$20,000 lost: No remorse for rest home fraud
A former staff member has shown no remorse for stealing $20,000 from a Rangitı¯kei rest home, forcing it into a financial hole.
Paula Marie Forward, 51, doctored pay slips among other financial mismanagement in her role as office administrator at Edale Aged Care in Marton.
The financial damage was so severe the rest home temporarily closed its dementia ward and required new ownership to stay afloat.
Forward was sentenced in the Whanganui District Court to eight months’ home detention and ordered to repay $10,000.
She started processing pay runs when she joined the rest home in a part-time role in May 2014.
As the sole pay cheque operator, it was her responsibility to enter time sheets into the payroll software.
It wasn’t long before she increased her own hours.
She also paid herself time off in lieu across 12 months, which was not allowed under her contract.
On some weeks, the payslips had her working more than 100 hours each fortnight, more than what she was authorised to do.
On one occasion, the fortnight’s hours amounted to more than 180 hours. There were also times she increased her hourly rate to $47.
The fraudulent activity was discovered in 2016 when the trust found several Inland Revenue Department payments had not been paid. ‘‘That fell within your responsibility and you said you had completed forms saying payments had been completed,’’ the judge told Forward, according to sentencing notes released to Stuff.
‘‘Unsurprisingly, as a consequence, your employment ended.’’
When questioned, Forward said she was entitled to the money because she had worked the hours at home.
She claimed to have ticked Inland Revenue boxes stating payments had been made out of habit.
A pre-sentence report stated Forward saw herself as the victim. ‘‘You have no recognition of the hardship you have caused to that care centre or the victim harm,’’ the judge said. ‘‘Sadly, in this instance, restorative justice could not take place. Had it taken place, I anticipate your victims would have been left with an even more entrenched view that you did not really, truly appreciate what you had done, or the harm you had done.’’
Despite the offending taking place three years ago, Forward was not in a position to make a lump-sum payment.
She would instead make weekly instalments of $50, taking more than four years.
‘‘This was offending which placed the business into jeopardy and made it almost insolvent. That impacted not only staff, but also on the occupants who were elderly.’’
In a court statement, the trust’s chairman, Dudley Brown, said the offending caused immediate cashflow problems.
The rest home went into overdraft and deflected payments.
Business manager Judith Bartlett said she hired Forward because of the pair’s close friendship. However, her trust was abused.
Forward was due to stand trial in the Whanganui District Court in February, but she pleaded guilty before the hearing to a charge of accessing a computer system dishonestly. She has no prior convictions, but was granted diversion for a dishonesty offence.