A Victorian Police officer, who the state's anti-corruption watchdog alleges used her police connections to attempt to take possession of six properties, has appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates' Court.
Rosa Catherine Rossi, from the Geelong suburb of Corio, has been charged with 20 separate offences by the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC).
They include deceptively and dishonestly trying to gain property, fraudulently claiming welfare payments, stealing, accessing the police database for her own gain, and falsifying documents.
Documents from the court allege she tried to claim ownership of three rural properties in the Western District as well as three suburban Melbourne properties in Chadstone, Malvern East and Brooklyn.
At Willaura, south of Ararat, she is alleged to have targeted the owners of three homes, changing the locks on the properties and submitting false change-of-address documents to the Ararat Rural City Council.
Ms Rossi is also charged with providing false documents in order to secure a loan with the Commonwealth Bank for a property in the town.
Deceased estate claim
At Malvern East, IBAC alleges Ms Rossi told a locksmith the property was a deceased estate in order to convince them to change the locks.
Court documents allege she went to the police station in Footscray and looked up the name and contact details of the owner of that property on the internal LEAP database.
She also lodged a false change-of-address form to the Stonnington City Council, according to the charge sheets.
For the Brooklyn property, court documents claim she went to Hobson's Bay City Council in her police uniform to get details of the property's owner and also submitted a false change-of-address notice.
IBAC investigators also allege she:
- set up a fake not-for-profit organisation called Sweet Georgia Pty Ltd;
- falsely claimed rental assistance from Centrelink;
- falsified statutory declarations about who she was and where she lived.
Ms Rossi will return to court in March.
