Forged letter caps long criminal career
A woman who admitted forging her own reference letter for a court sentencing has had another conviction added to her long list of dishonesty offences and 14 months added to her current jail term.
The latest sentencing caps an extraordinary career for 41-year-old Andrea Virginia Rochelle De La Hunt, also known as Phipps and Wilson.
Her defence counsel Moana Cole handed up a letter from De La Hunt to Christchurch District Court Judge Alistair Garland saying that she was now taking more personal responsibility for her offending. She was attending a course in prison dealing with underlying offending issues, and was having counselling.
Police prosecutor Chris Hunt said the forgery of a reference letter to be handed to a judge struck at the integrity of the justice system.
Judge Garland said De La Hunt now placed the blame for her offending on her bipolar disorder, and on past violent relationships.
“You claim you now have a better understanding of yourself and your past as a result of counselling, and express regret for your offending,” he told her.
He added 14 months to a two-year six-month jail sentence he gave her last year.
De La Hunt’s record includes:
• 130 fraud convictions since 2001.
• Wilful damage by explosives in 2001.
• s dinner with sleeping tablets, then put lavender oil on his pillow to send him too sleep, and set fire to petrol she poured inside the house. The fire caused extensive scorching but nobody was hurt.
• In 2007 she was jailed for two years on 70 dishonesty charges, including forging a doctor’s letter to try to cover up her offending.
• A community detention sentence, community work, and intensive supervision in 2008 for a series of frauds and tax offences involving more than $100,000. The sentencing judge said that the former Inland Revenue Department employee was said to be “addicted to money”.
• A year’s home detention for a series of frauds in 2011 when she ripped off people, employers, and companies for $35,538.
• Sending false emails to her probation officer in 2012 to convince them that she was working at a beautician business, when she was actually doing sex work while wearing the home detention ankle bracelet.
• And now forging an employer’s letter for her sentencing which said they were aware of her criminal past and mental health problems, and said they might not be able to keep her job open at a call centre unless she got name suppression.
Judge Garland said the forgery had been detected because of good police work.
Category: News
Subscribe
If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to receive more just like it.
Connect
Connect with us via: