The woman embroiled in a texting saga with former Australian Test cricket captain Tim Paine could be jailed for stealing from one-time employer Cricket Tasmania after it was revealed she took some $29,000 from a previous workplace.
Renee Ferguson, 49, appeared in Hobart Magistrates Court on Thursday and admitted stealing $5600 in cash and memberships from the sporting body in 2017 while working as a receptionist.
Her lawyer Marcia Edwards said Ferguson found herself in a "whirlwind to somehow punish Cricket Tasmania" after she raised issues about a toxic workplace that had largely been ignored.
Ms Edwards offered an apology to Cricket Tasmania on behalf of Ferguson, saying she was now a "changed woman".
Crown prosecutor Andrew Tye said Ferguson's offending was in breach of a 12-month suspended prison sentence she was serving at the time.
He said Ferguson started stealing from Cricket Tasmania about six weeks after being sentenced for stealing more than $29,000 from a medical centre where she earlier worked.
"(She) had been given a second chance to rehabilitate. The offending on both occasions was not one-off," Mr Tye said.
Mr Tye said it "wouldn't be unjust" to activate the suspended sentence, which had a term of two years on the basis Ferguson didn't commit an imprisonable offence.
Chief Magistrate Catherine Geason, who adjourned the matter to early March for sentencing, said Ferguson may face time in prison or a home detention order.
Ferguson was thrust into the national spotlight in late 2021 when it was revealed Paine had sent her explicit text messages years earlier.
Ms Edwards said Ferguson, who lives in Victoria, was forced to leave Tasmania because of the humiliation and shame brought on her family and two children.
Ferguson previously pleaded not guilty to dozens of stealing offences and two counts of dishonestly acquiring a financial advantage but changed her pleas to guilty on Thursday.
She stole Cricket Tasmania junior and platinum memberships and a Hobart Hurricanes family membership.
She pocketed cash following interactions with the public at the organisation's front desk at Bellerive Oval, often taking the money to a back room, the court was told.
Discrepancies in the books of Cricket Tasmania were first noticed in December 2017, prompting further audits.
Ms Edwards said Ferguson had "clawed back" from the offending and had a supportive employer.
She said Ferguson had kept a dignified silence following the Paine saga and turned back offers from the media, including 60 Minutes, to tell her story.
Ms Edwards said Ferguson had been underpaid at the medical centre.
"She decided essentially to pay herself the amount she was being short changed," the lawyer said.
"She was going through a divorce. It was all too much and she made the foolhardy decision to pay herself.
"I call it 30 seconds of madness. For Ms Ferguson it was some four years of madness."
