By Cam Lucadou-Wells
A receptionist at a Noble Park North medical clinic has been jailed after defrauding more than $180,000 from Medicare.
Sarah Naomi Ward, 31, pleaded guilty at the Victorian County Court to lodging more than 1600 false patient claims for medical consultations that didn’t occur while working at Melbourne Digestive Centre in 2019-‘20.
For more than 12 months, she pocketed $181,121 – about $3417 a week – in her name and her husband’s name.
In sentencing on 17 March, Judge Geoff Chettle said the “gross” betrayal of trust was motivated by “greed not need”.
Ward had told a psychologist that she inadequately paid and wanted to keep up with her affluent friends. The mother of two wanted new clothing for her children, and a better car.
The offending occurred just a year after completing a “relatively lenient” community corrections order for a similar $29,000 fraud while working at Cabrini Health in 2015.
Being undeterred by the CCO, Ward required a significant jail term for her serious, repetitive, sophisticated and planned offending, Judge Chettle said.
When the Department of Health received a tip-off in 2020, Ward initially stated the patient claims were for “training purposes”.
After being sacked by the clinic, she has since been employed at a psychology practice. Up until now, her new employer hadn’t known about her criminal history, Judge Chettle noted.
Ward’s barrister submitted she had been suffering from personality disorders, chronic social anxiety and low self-esteem due to childhood difficulties.
“This manifested in a preoccupation to show people that she was successful and to keep up with the affluent lifestyles she observed on social media,” a psychologist stated.
At the time, she was “increasingly stressed by her workload and resentful, believing that she was not being paid appropriately given how much she was working”.
Raised in Endeavour Hills, Ward grew up in a family with serious financial issues, with her gambling father spending money impulsively.
Her mother and father separated just before her Year 12 exams, causing her great anxiety.
Judge Chettle noted Ward’s early guilty plea, her family’s support, court delays and her full repayment of the defrauded funds – which was a sign of “contrition”.
Her rehabilitation prospects were “reasonable” if she got treatment for her self-centred traits, the judge said.
Ward was jailed for two years, but to be released after 12 months on a recognizance release order, which is a good-behaviour bond.
Corrections Victoria has allowed Ward to bring her 12-month-old infant with her into custody.
