By JESSE GRAHAM
HEALESVILLE’S former Chamber of Commerce president faces time in jail after fronting Ringwood Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday 6 April, to answer nearly 50 fraud charges.
Graham Taylor, 60, appeared in court to answer 48 charges of fraud and deception, all of which occurred between February 2014 and March 2015.
The charges included stealing money from people’s credit cards; stealing money and wine from Coldstream’s Rochford Wines, where he worked; using credit cards falsely to purchase concert tickets; and stealing $1110 from the Healesville Chamber of Commerce, where he was president until his arrest in 2015.
The prosecutor, Sergeant van Geyzel, said Taylor stole more than $12,000 by using credit cards that did not belong to him, after receiving the numbers from friends who asked him to purchase items for them from Rochford.
He used the cards 33 times for cash advances, and on one occasion stole wine from the business for a victim, to keep up the guise of having used their card legitimately.
When the thefts came to light in April 2015, Taylor was arrested and charged with 45 offences – three more charges were added later.
Taylor also stole $2860 from the Marysville Lions Club, where he was president from 2013-’15, which was given to him to pay for a contractor. He kept and spent the money.
Sgt van Geyzel noted in court an agreement had been made to repay the Lions club, and the 48 charges did not include that theft.
He noted that one victim had been repaid, though more than $19,000 was left owed to victims, from the total stolen of $21,189.
Representing himself in court, Taylor pleaded guilty to all charges.
Sgt van Geyzel said Taylor told police he was motivated by “desperation“, using stolen money to pay for food and bills, and to repay people who questioned the extra charges on their credit cards.
In the courtroom, Taylor said he began stealing after “taking on way too much at work“, and bought concert tickets and entertainment packages for friends who asked for them using one of the cards.
“I ran myself into the ground,“ he said.
“I was very popular – people would come and ask me for tickets, and I had no way of saying no to anyone.“
He said he was currently receiving treatment for depression.
But Ms Crowe disputed Mr Taylor’s explanation that he had stolen money to repay others, and said his crimes were a “gross breach of trust“.
“The cash advances, they went in your pocket – you didn’t give those away,“ she said.
“This is a gross breach of trust, not only of your friends, but of your employers.
“You stole from not only your employer, but two community organisations … only one is really before me, (but) that’s got nothing to do with assisting any friends.“
Taylor provided character references to the court, but Ms Crowe said they were “insufficient“, and did not demonstrate that the writers knew the charges he was facing.
She asked him to bring more details of any medical conditions, as well as testimony and witnesses, to court, to back up his claims of mental illness and that he had been asked for free tickets.
Ms Crowe said her two options for sentencing Taylor included a jail sentence, or a community corrections order, and noted the latter would require community work.
Taylor was previously convicted of fraud and deception charges in 2006, after keeping cash payments and using customers’ credit cards to steal $17,800 when he was the property manager at a conference centre.
He was convicted and sentenced to six months in jail for the 2006 charges, which was appealed and suspended; he was given a community corrections order.
Originally slated to appear in court in October 2015, after his arrest, Taylor’s case was adjourned multiple times before Wednesday’s hearing.
He will re-appear at Ringwood Magistrates’ Court on 4 May for sentencing.
