A Melbourne bookkeeper who stole more than $140,000 from a family friend has been sentenced to a two-year community corrections order.
Christine Hogan pleaded guilty to stealing money from her former employer after previously denying the charges.
She was hired by Phil Nam, a family friend of almost 30 years, to look after the accounts for his business that supplied signs to real estate agencies.
Over the course of five years, the 67-year-old Templestowe woman made several transactions into her own bank account, using the cash to pay off her credit cards and mortgage.
When Nam contacted his bank in 2017, the dodgy transactions were unearthed.
“I’d call around there for fish and chips every week,” Nam said of Hogan.
“I went to their kids’ weddings and christenings.
“When you lose a friend, that’s pretty traumatic.”
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Hogan was facing a nine-month prison sentence but was given a community corrections order which included 300 hours of volunteer work.
Judge Angela Ellis said Hogan’s offending was a “gross breach of trust”.
Hogan has been ordered to pay back her former boss $112,366 in four instalments, with the first to be made next month.
Hogan’s family described her as a “devoted” and “loving” wife.
A former employer said she had “professional integrity” and “exceptional ethical standards”.
Ellis said there was evidence that Hogan tried to cover her tracks, adding she has shown “no expression of remorse”.
