13 July 2016

Imprisonment sentence for obtaining college’s finances

Donald John Hancox has been sentenced in the Hutt Valley District Court today for a $375, 000 fraud against his former employer, Upper Hutt College.

The retired Executive Officer first appeared on 30 May 2016 facing 10 Crimes Act charges of ‘Obtaining by deception’. He pleaded guilty to all 10 charges.

Mr Hancox has been sentenced to two years and three months’ imprisonment.

It was during periods of building work from 2007 to 2014 that Mr Hancox created and submitted false invoices for goods and services to Upper Hutt College from various entities. Mr Hancox then directed payments of those invoices to bank accounts linked or controlled by him. A total of 77 invoices were submitted in his offending.

SFO Director, Julie Read said, “Mr Hancox used his control over the approval and payment of invoices to deliberately mislead the school. This was not only a gross breach of trust but his actions also had the potential to cause serious damage to the reputation of the school.”

ENDS