Suffolk woman sentenced to community service after committing £68,000 fraud
The money was supposed to pay for her care for multiple sclerosis
A Suffolk woman has been sentenced - after defrauding the County Council for money that was supposed to pay for her care for multiple sclerosis.
41 year old Lucy Melton, of Sudbury, was convicted of fraud totalling more than £68,000.
It was found she'd submitted false invoices from a care firm that had been dissolved in 2016 following the death of its director.
She'd then withdraw £300 every week in cash from the direct payment account, providing fraudulent invoices in the name of the dissolved agency to account for the cash, which she used to fund her lifestyle.
During the trial, held at Ipswich Magistrates Court, Ms Melton claimed her alleged carer lived in Chelmsford and travelled to Sudbury every day to provide care, including on weekends and conducted home visits 2-3 time a day.
She also stated it was always the same carer who never had time off for holiday or sickness and that Ms Melton's partner, who she lives with, never saw, or met the carer as he was always out whenever the carer came.
At the end of the trial, Ipswich Magistrates found her guilty of two offences of fraud; failure to disclose information, namely not using the direct payment for its intended purposes and making or supplying an article in connection with a fraud, namely the fabricated invoices, totalling £68,308.36.
Magistrates then referred the case to Ipswich Crown Court for sentencing, where a judge sentenced her to a 3-year Community Order, including a Compensation Order totalling £10k repayable at £100 per month, 80 hours of unpaid Community Service and 30 days of rehabilitation activity with the Probation Service.
Speaking after the sentencing, Cllr. Beccy Hopfensperger Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care said: "I am pleased we have been able to successfully prosecute this case. Whilst I would have hoped for a tougher sentence to help deter others, people should be in no doubt that the Council will always rigorously pursue any indication of fraud, especially where the funding for adult social care is concerned."