Two Albany women who used string of fake refunds to defraud former employer Lovisa avoid jail time

Two Albany women who stole more than $1300 from their former employer through a series of “deceitful” fake refund transactions, have both avoided time behind bars after sentencing last week. Amber Eve Bradley and Angel Kiticia Tysoe both appeared in the Albany Magistrates Court on Thursday, each charged with nine counts of gains benefit by fraud. The former co-workers, both 27, processed a series of fraudulent refunds at budget jewellery store Lovisa in Albany Plaza over the course of about a month. Police prosecutor Sgt. Gary Simpson said the pair falsified 12 refunds under fictitious customer names between from January 14 and February 15, valued at $1332.66 in total, with all funds going to Tysoe. Tysoe worked at Lovisa for eight years until she was let go following a dispute over one of the store’s ear-piercing policies before the spate of offending took place. Bradley was still employed at the store when the month-long string of fraudulent transactions were carried out. Defence counsel Wendy Stewart told the court Tysoe believed she had been underpaid upon being let go by the company, and “took matters into her own hands” to get the remainder of the compensation she believed she was owed. Sgt. Simpson said the continuation of the offending over a month-long period showed it was premeditated and planned, and Tysoe’s motive of “revenge on the business” was clear. He said while Bradley did not benefit from the transactions, her willing participation made her case equally serious. Magistrate Tanya Watt agreed, saying Bradley was still employed by the store at the time of the offences, and she therefore was the one with the continuing obligation to her employer, as well as the only one with the power to affect the transactions. She said the offences were serious in nature, not because of the monetary amount stolen, but because of the deceit shown by both women, and their use of knowledge as employees of the store to defraud it. She said Tysoe, the sole beneficiary of the transactions, had used this knowledge, as well as her relationship with her former co-worker, to intentionally and deliberately defraud her former employer. Both women were sentenced to a 12-month intensive supervision order.

Two Albany women who used string of fake refunds to defraud former employer Lovisa avoid jail time

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