Identity theft and fraud web taken apart
David Pasene sat in the middle of an identity theft and fraud ring like a spider, sending others to do his bidding and reaping nearly half-a-million-dollars in cash.
Pasene – whose list of criminal convictions included multiple frauds – recruited others, sent them out to try their luck in banks with forged and stolen identities taken from cars or in burglaries.
Police mounted a six-month operation to put an end to the 14 months of offending that spanned the country after seeing a large number of similar frauds being committed.
In all, 33 people appeared before the courts charged with their small parts in the organised criminal enterprise. Pasene, 51, of Naenae, was the big part. He and others allegedly forged identity documents including firearms licenses, driver’s licenses, passports and 18+ cards and sent out with people they called mules to be used.
The false documents were then accepted by banks as genuine and, as a result, sums of money were withdrawn and cheques cashed.
During 2015, approximately $428,000 was illegally obtained by this organised crime group with about $225,000 of potential fraud prevented by quick-thinking bank staff.
Originally, he faced more than 100 charges but Pasene eventually pleaded guilty to 10 representative charges of forging and using fraud documents.
Wellington District Court judge Peter Butler yesterday jailed him for three years and two months.
He also sentenced another man who was part of the web, Karl Cornell Tauri, 58, of Lower Hutt, to 101⁄2-months’ community detention after he pleaded guilty to 19 similar charges.
There was no reparation ordered as it could not be paid by either man.
Crown lawyer Alex Winsley said the offending was parasitic and frustrating for the victims.
Pasene’s lawyer, Nathan Bourke, said he was remorseful and had spent an astonishing 31 months on a 24-hour electronically monitored curfew without breaching it.
Detective Inspector Grant Wormald said when the operation ended, it had been a lengthy and complex investigation because the offending had been occurring across the North Island.
‘‘It has taken a lot of coordinated teamwork with the bank fraud investigation teams and police document examiners office in particular, to bring all the pieces of the puzzle together and to link the hundreds of offences back to those police allege are responsible for making the false identity documents.
‘‘People need to be aware if they lose any form of identity document, or have one stolen, that they need to report the loss or theft to police, their bank and the issuing authority right away, especially if it has a photograph on it,’’ Wormald said.
A third man was still to face trial.