The temptation of an unsupervised credit card was too much to resist for a Mandurah bricklayer who used it to steal more than $6000 from a 90-year-old woman living in an aged care facility. Police Prosecutor Emma Houghton said 38-year-old Ross Wayne Moore, who had been hired to renovate a bathroom at a house on Gibson Street in Mandurah, racked up more than 213 fraudulent transactions on numerous items, including fuel and fast food, over an 11-week period starting in April 2019. The victim’s family had trusted Moore, allowing him to live at the house during the renovations. The home belonged to the 90-year-old woman who was in aged care facility. The credit card belonged to her son and was used to care for the elderly woman. Moore pleaded guilty to 11 counts of Gains Benefit by Fraud and one count of Stealing. Moore’s duty lawyer told Mandurah Magistrate’s Court that work had dried up and the “temptation” to use the card had been too much. Magistrate Matthew Walton labelled the crime a “gross breach of trust’ and said Moore knew he had “no right” to use the card. Moore was sentenced on February 4 to a seven-month jail term suspended for six months. He was also fined $500 and ordered to pay back the $6173.14.
