A man who posed as a female ASIO officer as part of an elaborate scam to obtain money from a former sex client has been sentenced to nearly two and a half years in jail by the ACT Supreme Court.
Jeremiah Deakin, 32, pleaded guilty to the fraud after obtaining about $718,000 from the victim.
The court heard the pair had met online, for sexual services, when Deakin was still a teenager and the man was in his 50s.
And, even after the sexual connection ended in 2013, the man would give Deakin money to help him.
But when the man finally said he could not provide any more funds, Deakin devised a plan to trick him into continuing to give him money.
The court heard Deakin had been driven to the deception by his drug and gambling addictions.
Deakin convinced the victim that he was the subject of welfare charges, and the man was implicated because of advice he had given Deakin years before.
He also told the man there were charges related to their past sexual relationship.
Between 2016 and 2018 the victim also received messages from a woman who said she was an ASIO lawyer and later a police officer.
But in truth, it was Deakin himself.
Today, ACT Chief Justice Lucy McCallum said the deceit had been effective because there had been a conversation between the pair about Centrelink payments.
But she said there were no charges from Centrelink or any other source.
"The victim feels betrayed, after years of benevolent payments."
But she acknowledged Deakin had had a very difficult upbringing, marred by abandonment, when his mother left and later when his father remarried, and chose his stepmother over him.
"I am satisfied there is a connection between those matters … and his offending conduct," she said.
Chief Justice McCallum said Deakin had felt the deceit was morally justified because the man had taken advantage of him when he was young.
She noted when Deakin had spoken to the police, he said: "That person used to use me as an underage prostitute."
Chief Justice McCallum also noted that Deakin had shown remorse, saying he was sorry he had affected the victim's life and acknowledged there was no moral justification for his actions.
Last month, Deakin also asked to be sent to prison, saying he had nowhere to stay in Canberra.
Deakin was today sentenced to two years and five months in jail, with a 14-month non-parole period.
