Karma Elms pleaded guilty to 46 charges of fraud. Source: News Corp Australia
A FORMER Queensland Health staffer who claims the stress of her job led her to steal nearly $40,000 from the department will be free after serving just three months behind bars.
Karma Elms, 36, from Caboolture, falsely paid herself the cash as massive amounts of overtime between May 2010 and August 2011 and lavished it on spending sprees at department stores and paying off her credit card, including buying luxury food hampers.
She hasn’t repaid a cent despite finding a new job at an undisclosed company shortly after she was sacked.
In the Brisbane Magistrates Court today Elms was sentenced to two years jail suspended after three months. She pleaded guilty to 46 fraud charges.
She faced a maximum sentence of 12 years in prison for the “planned, systematic offending” at the Meadowbrook office in Brisbane’s southern suburbs.
She blamed the “stress” of her job — where she worked as a supervisor — for turning her into a thief.
The court heard she took advantage of management chaos at the department as it tried to cope with the infamous “payroll debacle” in 2010.
She spent a year on suspension while the then-Crime and Corruption Commission investigated her.
Elms sobbed following her sentencing, embracing supporters in the public gallery.