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Image Source: Shutterstock
Summary
- A Tasmanian makeup artist falsely claimed A$65,000 on her family’s health insurance from her former employer Bupa.
- Olivia Rose Rodgers served as a casual worker at the insurance company for two years.
- Ms Rodgers’ prosecutors argued that she was fully aware of what she was doing and stole the money because of greed.
A 31-year-old Tasmanian woman committed insurance fraud by stealing A$65,000 from Bupa Health Insurance during her two-year employment.
Olivia Rose Rodgers, a makeup artist, pleaded guilty to 62 counts of dishonesty before the Hobart Magistrates Court on Tuesday.
Ms Rodgers took advantage of her former employer Bupa Health Insurance, where she worked as a casual employee over two years. She repeatedly made false insurance claims in her family’s name and then asked relatives to send her the claimed amount.
The prosecutor testifying against Ms Rodgers, Ann Edge, explained how Ms Rodgers used to fabricate excuses to her family members to explain the unexpected money arriving in their banking accounts. The claimed sum was then sent to Ms Rodgers private account.
Image Source: Shutterstock
Ms Rodgers was the sole beneficiary of all the fraudulently claimed insurance amounts.
However, the police initially thought that the whole family was in on the insurance fraud, calling it “a joint criminal enterprise”, collaborating to siphon off the biggest sum from Bupa.
Fabiano Cangelosi, Ms Rodgers’ lawyer, said that his client was aware that the whole family was charged and prosecuted for crimes that she had personally committed.
Supreme Court of Tasmania also questioned Ms Rodgers’ mother, who suffered from a terminal stage of cancer.
Mr Cangelosi said how Ms Rodgers would have to live with the knowledge that because of her deeds, her terminally ill mother had to go through something like this in her final years.
What Ms Rodgers’ lawyer said
The defendant’s lawyer claimed that Ms Rodgers did not receive regular paychecks from her former employer Bupa, which prompted her to resort to extreme measures to get the money.
He also mentioned that Ms Rodgers was allegedly experiencing a lot of anxiety and stress at the time. However, the defence said that Ms Rodgers had made a mistake by using the stolen money on a lavish lifestyle and living expenses.
Moreover, the defence argued that his client was not diagnosed with a psychological condition that she had at the time of the crime, which resulted in Ms Rodgers not being fully aware of the extent of the misconduct.
Once the stolen amount was disclosed, Ms Rodgers was allegedly surprised at how much she had managed to steal in falsely claimed insurance.
What is the evidence against Ms Rodgers?
Prosecutors argued that Ms Rodgers stole A$65,000 not due to mental disorder, but out of greed as Ms Edge told the court:
Ms Rodgers’ intention was evident in her bank statements that showed how she used the stolen money to fund her frequent travels, rented cars, and shopping lavishly.
Ms Rodgers’ paycheck comprised over A$4,000 from Bupa and a smaller portion of her makeup business. However, she spent more than A$9,000 by using the money she stole from the health insurance company.
What was the verdict?
The defence argued that sentencing Ms Rodgers to prison would highly damage her business, where she now works full-time.
In case she was sent to prison, Ms Rodgers would likely lose her business, as clients would not want to pay for Ms Rodgers’ services.
However, the Tasmanian court has suspended the hearing until further notice and will decide about Ms Rodgers’ fate sometime in the future.
