Portland GP who defrauded patients sentenced

Abraham Stephanson, previously Stephanopoulos, 50, previously pleaded guilty to multiple counts of obtaining financial advantage by deception.

On Tuesday he was jailed for three years with a non-parole period of 18 months.

The former Seaport Medical Centre doctor accepted payments from 18 patients and one local pharmacy employee between October, 2019 and December, 2020. The payments ranged from $5000 to $120,000.

He also attempted to obtain $25,000 in funds but was unsuccessful.

The victims were told Stephanson was funding his father's international cancer treatment.

But not a cent went to his dad, with the majority transferred into his Betfair online gambling account.

Stephanson entered into loan agreements with a number of patients, using a medical stamp to sign the forms and meeting them at his GP clinic.

In December 2020, two male victims were contacted by Portland's National Australia Bank and advised of an investigation by the organisation's fraud department.

Stephanson was arrested at his Portland home on December 24 that year.

The financial loss to Stephanson's patients exceeded $800,000.

He repaid $190,418 prior to his arrest.

More than $620,000 remained outstanding as at August 2.

Some elderly and vulnerable patients provided their life savings or superannuation to give money to their doctor of more than a decade.

Judge George Georgiou said Stephanson exploited his patients as their trusted doctor in order to feed his gambling habit, and relied on his father's "grave illness" to do so.

He said Stephanson's offending occurred while one victim's wife was gravely ill and his deception caused "great angst to her during her last months".

"Sadly (the male victim) has now passed too," he said.

Judge Georgiou said it was clear Stephanson's conduct had a profound impact on each of his victims.

"The word trust features in just about all of the impact statements," he said.

"Your victims feel betrayed and some feel guilty and foolish in taking you at your word."

But the judge said despite Stephanson's "gross breach of trust", some of his victims understood his gambling "predicament".

In July Stephanson sold his Portland home for $1.57 million in the hope of repaying his victims.

Abbie J Roodenburg, representing Stephanson, told the court during a plea hearing the value of the property had dropped by about $130,000 after the advertisement was taken down for some time on police request due to a restraining order.

She said over $800,000 was still owed on the mortgage and her client understood there would be "barely enough" to repay the victims and "certainly nothing left" for Stephanson and his family.

Stephanson moved to Portland in 2009 following a name change after being convicted of possessing child pornography in the early 2000s.

He successfully fought to keep his medical registration, which included a condition to not treat anyone under 18.

Upon his arrival in Portland Stephanson claimed he was the target of verbal and physical abuse, as well as graffiti.

The incidents were not reported to police.

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