An assumed identity has allowed an ex-prisoner to defraud the Commonwealth of more than $40,000 in welfare payments at Dubbo but the deception has ultimately unravelled.
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Matthew Kurt Hupp claimed a carers payment under his own name while receiving other Centrelink benefits under the name of James Ian Hancock.
The real Mr Hancock did not know Hupp, even though Hupp had served a six-month prison sentence under the assumed name, being released in April 2010.
The offences took place from September 2010 until September 2012, when the Australian Federal Police (AFP) attended a Centrelink office at Parkes where Hupp was, executed a search warrant and found a drivers licence and Centrelink pension card in the name of James Hancock.
Hupp, a 41-year-old from Mendooran, pleaded guilty to two charges of obtaining a financial advantage by deception prosecuted by Centrelink and appeared in Dubbo Local Court this week.
The maximum penalty for each offence is 10 years' imprisonment or a $66,000 fine or both.
Court documents show from about September 2010 to February 2011, Hupp dishonestly obtained the carers payment in his own name while he was also in receipt of the Newstart Allowance in the name of James Ian Hancock.
He incorrectly told Centrelink he had never used or been known by another name and that he did not receive any other income, the documents show.
Then between February 2011 and September 2012, he dishonestly obtained a disability support pension in the name of James Ian Hancock while he received the carers payment in his own name.
The total overpayment to him was $41,161.
The payments went into two different bank accounts.
On two occasions in 2010 Hupp attended the Centrelink office at Dubbo as Hancock for Newstart Allowance update interviews.
In 2011 when Hupp was granted the disability pension as Hancock, he provided Centrelink with a copy of Hancock's birth certificate.
The court documents also reveal how the subterfuge took place.
In 2003 the genuine Mr Hancock provided his birth certificate to his former wife in order to get a divorce, the documents show.
When he applied for a passport in 2004 he realised he no longer had his birth certificate and he applied for a new one to be issued.
The former wife of Mr Hancock had the birth certificate after lodging it to a court to get a divorce and put it aside to send back to him.
About this time she knew a person by the name of Matthew Hupp who was a friend of a friend, the documents show.
On more than one occasion Hupp was present at her house.
She sent a package of documents back to her former husband by mail and thought his birth certificate was included.
Investigations by Centrelink revealed VicRoads records showed a person applied for a Victorian drivers licence in the name of Hancock in October 2003 and photographs on that record were similar to those of Hupp, according to the court documents.
A NSW licence was issued to a person in the name of James Hancock in 2006, and photographs on the record were also similar to Hupp.
In 2008 a mobile account was opened under the name of Hancock.
A James Hancock applied for and leased a post office box at Gilgandra, providing the Victorian drivers licence as proof of identity.
After serving time behind bars under the name of James Hancock, at his release in 2010 Hupp made a claim for Newstart in the name of Hancock and under Mr Hancock's existing Centrelink record, which was last used in 2000.
The genuine Mr Hancock has never been to jail, held a Victorian drivers licence, used that particular mobile account or operated a post office box at Gilgandra, the documents show.
This week Hupp was committed for sentence to Dubbo District Court and listed to appear on May 18.
