Former Tennant Creek Post Office manager Rebecca Liebelt has been sentenced in the Northern Territory Supreme Court to four and half years jail, suspended after six months when she will go into home detention, after pleading guilty to stealing more than $425,000 from Australia Post.
Liebelt was sentenced to jail by Justice Sonia Brownhill on October 3, but from April 2, she will transfer to home detention for 12 months, and would then be free, with no good behaviour bond issued. She faced a maximum total of 34 years in jail, for one count of aggravated stealing and one count of laundering money.
In her judgement, Justice Brownhill said Liebelt became the licensee of the Tenant Creek Australia Post Office in February 2018, and ran the post office as a business with her husband Greg Liebelt as an employee, with two business accounts with Australia Post in joint names, and two personal accounts held in joint names at the Commonwealth Bank, along with an account only in her name.
Mr Liebelt has been charged with receiving $286,749.95 in stolen money via three jointly held accounts and he had previously argued he was not aware of the theft, and has said he will contest the charges, according to previous media reports.
Justice Brownhill said that between March 1, 2019 and May 8, 2021 Rebecca Liebelt stole $425,749.95, beginning by creating fake deposits using the Australia Post bank system and depositing the money from the fake deposits into her personal and joint business accounts.
“Each fake deposit was a stealing from Australia Post of real funds to the value of the deposit,” she said.
“…You made 72 fake deposits totaling $404,749.95. $138,000 of that money went into your own bank account and $266,749 when into joint bank accounts.
“You also stole a further $21,000 in cash by accumulating till takings that did not need to be accounted for. You used seven bank accounts across four different banks to launder the money you stole, mixing it with legitimate earnings.
“You used the money to pay personal and business bills, to buy personal goods, to invest in business interests and to travel.
“You moved the stolen funds around repeatedly and withdrew cash from ATMs across Tennant Creek, thereby overcoming the $2000 cash withdrawal limits.
“You funnelled some of the stolen cash back into the Tennant Creek Post Office to avoid detection. And you also unplugged the internet modem to cause system issues to avoid detection.”.
Justice Brownhill said on January 19, 2021, Australia Post security showed up for a surprise audit after noting continued financial irregularities, and on March 1, they made a formal complaint to NT Police, with warrants then issued and Liebelt becoming the subject of telephone and physical surveillance.
The judge said Liebelt went to the police station on May 8, and admitted to the theft in a recorded interview.
Auditors identified that a total of $79,732.74 of the stolen money had not been funnelled back into the Australia Post system, and on May 31, 2021, Liebelt repaid the outstanding amount of the stolen funds, the judge said.
She also said Australia Post terminated the lease which resulted in a loss of $79,043.75 which had been advanced to the convicted, and Australia Post obtained a default judgment of $86,478.32 which has yet to be paid. There was also about $77,000 in Australia Post legal fees, auditing fees, staff travel to the remote location and other debt recovery costs.
“One of your character references contains a statement to the effect that you are extremely remorseful and sorry for your actions,” the judge said.
“So you should be. In the absence of you going into the witness box and giving evidence to that effect, however, very little weight is given to those kinds of self–serving statements.
“In cases like these, the making of restitution is a matter which can indicate genuine remorse for the offending. You did repay the outstanding money you owed, but you have not repaid the debt owed to Australia Post for the lease.
“While the loss to the victim directly through the offending was around $80,000, your actions have caused losses to the victim of over half a million dollars.
“Further, you did not stop offending until you were aware that you were being investigated by police.
“Your explanation for the offending is that you were using the stolen funds to prop up the cash flow issues in the business while your husband worked very long hours.
“You were struggling to manage the business, which had five staff, to manage your family and the financial affairs of the family and the business.”
Liebelt will spend six months in jail and enter home detention on April 3.
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