Worker used clients' credit card details to cover up deceptions

Heather Mckaskill, 55, started working in an administration role at the Portland Observer on January 3, 2023, and was tasked to take payment for classified advertisements.

She worked two shifts, totalling 12 hours, before her employment was terminated on January 5 that year.

Mckaskill took the credit card details of three clients, who had purchased ads at the newspaper, and used them to make hundreds of dollars worth of personal purchases.

She pleaded guilty in Portland Magistrates Court on January 23, 2024, to charges of obtaining financial advantage and property by deception.

Mckaskill used the credit cards to buy phone credit and pharmaceutical items.

The court heard in the days before her short-lived job she twice attended Portland IGA and bought items worth nearly $400 using cheques she knew were valueless.

She later rang the supermarket, advised them the cheques would not work and used the stolen cards to pay for the previously purchased items.

Mckaskill was arrested on January 9 that year. She immediately admitted the offending.

The court heard the woman had a significant criminal history dating back to 1990 involving multiple stints in jail, including two years and 11 months in 2017 for deception-related offences.

In 2015 she was sentenced to three years' jail with a non-parole period of six months.

Mckaskill's has criminal convictions recorded in Victoria, Tasmania, NSW, Western Australia and in South Australia, where she has 38 pages of criminal history.

A lawyer for the woman conceded Mckaskill had a relevant and concerning history but urged the court against another jail sentence.

She said the items Mckaskill purchased through deception at the IGA involved sanitary products, coffee, shampoo, socks, cigarettes and medication.

The lawyer said a correction order was suitable when considering Mckaskill's age, mental and physical health, early guilty plea, evidence of remorse, gap in offending and pro-social support.

She submitted two character references which magistrate Gerard Lethbridge said involved a "fairly bold submission" that Mckaskill was "of good character".

"She has served years in custody over the last decade for persistent dishonesty offences," he said.

Police prosecutor Senior Constable Kevin Mullins said the breach of trust was outrageous.

"The level of dishonesty is certainly right up there," he said.

While the magistrate accepted the offending involved "relatively minor" amounts, he said her future conduct was informed by her past.

"It's considered a very aggravated form of theft when someone in a position of trust chooses to steal," he told Mckaskill.

"Either you pull up now, or you'll probably be an old woman in jail, probably dying in jail."

Mckaskill was placed on a community correction order for 18 months.

"The court will try something new to see if that persuades you to finally change your ways," the magistrate said.

She'll perform 90 hours of unpaid community work over that period.