Fraudster ripped off his friend
As he battles cancer, a convicted fraudster will take 19 years to pay back part of the $35,000 he stole from his disabled friend.
Raymond Thomas Keith Pierce took advantage of a mentally and physically impaired man in 2007, when he lived in Hawera. After getting the victim, whose impairment related to a traumatic brain injury, to refinance his mortgage, Pierce transferred funds from the man’s account into his own.
The theft was discovered five years later by a woman tasked with helping the victim sort out his financial problems, which included a risk of losing his home.
Yesterday, Pierce fronted up in court for sentencing, where it was revealed the 62-year-old had cancer and was undergoing treatment. He previously pleaded guilty to two charges of obtains by deception.
Lawyer Rajan Rai told the New Plymouth District Court a suitable home detention address was available for Pierce, who was very unwell.
‘‘His lifestyle currently is dominated by his cancer treatment,’’ Rai said. Along with advocating for an electronically monitored sentence, he said Pierce also offered to pay back the victim at a weekly rate of $20.
In 2012, police were approached by an employee of a service contracted by ACC, who was working with the victim.
She told police the victim had refinanced his mortgage and taken out a series of personal loans but he had not agreed to this. He said the only thing he believed he had agreed to do was act as a guarantor so Pierce could buy a car.
An investigation found that after the arrangement was made to refinance the victim’s mortgage, $88,052 was deposited into his solicitor’s account in July 2007.
Money was paid out to settle various debts and the remaining $38,031.20 was transferred into the victim’s account. Five days later, two transactions were made from this account. A sum of $14,000 was transferred into Pierce’s bank account and a further $21,000 was paid into a Credit Union account which was in the victim’s name but used Pierce’s address.
For such large sums to be transferred, the bank had to forward a pin number to the account holder in order to authorise the transfer.
Despite the fact Pierce had no authority on the account, the pin number was provided to him which allowed him to make the necessary authorisation.
When spoken to about the situation, the victim told police he was unaware he had refinanced his mortgage. He said it did not make sense for him to do this as it was on the way to being paid off. When the victim first met Pierce, he had a mortgage debt of $40,714.91.
Pierce told police he admitted to transferring the money out of the victim’s account but said he had the permission to do so.
Judge Chris Sygrove previously set the reparation amount to be paid back at $20,000, due to Pierce’s current personal circumstances.
He imposed a sentence of four and a half months home detention on the defendant, who appeared via audio-visual link from Christchurch, where he now lived. A slide, new lights and new flags could all be coming to the Stratford district if a funding application for more than $160,000 is approved.
At Tuesday’s ordinary meeting, the Stratford District Council approved an application to the Taranaki Electricity Trust (TET) for $167,179 for five projects.
They included lighting for Malone Gates, promotional flags for Broadway, an LED sign at the northern entrance to the town, a slide for Whangamomona and services from Venture Taranaki Trust (VTT).
The first four projects, which total $96,421, are part of the Stratford 2035 development, while the $70,758 was requested for the tourism and economic development support that VTT provided.
Deputy mayor Alan Jamieson, who was elected onto the trust in June, declared a conflict of interest and stepped back from the discussion and voting around the application.
Director of community service Kate Whareaitu said the work VTT provided had been funded by the TET in the past and VTT had usually applied for it directly.
However, since the TET changed its rules in September 2016 to say the organisation requesting the funds had to be based within the TET area, which excluded New Plymouth, VTT was unable to do that.
Councillor Grant Boyde asked if funding had already been allocated for the first four projects, as they were included in the longterm plan. Chief executive Sven Hanne said there were a number of budget lines in the long-term plan that would only happen if the council could get external funding for them.
At the meeting, councillors also supported Mayor Neil Volzke’s suggestion to appoint councillor Jono Erwood to the executive committee following the removal of Graham Kelly in May, after he leaked confidential information.