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The Canberra Times
The Canberra Times
National
Blake Foden

'Whole swag' of new charges takes alleged childcare fraud to $375k

Emma Morton outside court with lawyer Gavin Mansfield on a previous occasion. Picture: Blake Foden

A former Canberra childcare centre boss has been hit with dozens more fraud charges, taking the total amount she is accused of swindling from the not-for-profit to upwards of $375,000.

Emma Louise Morton, 47, had previously pleaded not guilty to 49 counts of obtaining property by deception after allegedly defrauding the Weston Creek Children's Centre of more than $330,000.

The former director of 22 years is accused of stealing from the organisation's coffers through various means.

These include making bank transfers to her own accounts and processing personal purchases, such as a $3000 sofa and a hotel stay, using the centre's funds.

When Ms Morton fronted the ACT Magistrates Court again on Monday, Magistrate Beth Campbell said "a whole swag of fresh charges" had now taken the total number to 80.

Emma Morton, who was first charged in February.

Prosecutor Elizabeth Wren read out the latest 31 charges, which alleged Ms Morton had deceptively obtained a combined total of more than $45,000 between January 2020 and February this year.

Ms Morton did not enter pleas, with defence lawyer Gavin Mansfield saying there were only limited details available about the new allegations.

Mr Mansfield told the court he had received a "thin" brief of evidence, and he expected "a lot more material" was still to come.

He said he some of what he was waiting on including copies of evidence extracted from an iPhone and two Apple laptops, which were seized from Ms Morton when she was arrested at her Campbell townhouse in February.

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Ms Wren indicated police digital forensics teams were currently experiencing backlogs, with the global Operation Ironside proving "a bit of a spanner in the works" for them.

But Ms Campbell said the provision of the relevant material to Ms Morton's lawyers did not seem like a particularly time-consuming task, ordering that it be done by August 30.

She otherwise adjourned the case to October 25.

Police have previously indicated investigators suspected more than $480,000 had been misappropriated from the childcare centre.

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