Samantha Cooks closed three years for “deliberate fraud” during the prolonged period – The Irish Times

The Samantha Cookes series fraud has been sentenced to three years in prison for social welfare and theft fraud for over four years, when he claimed to have Huntington’s disease.

Judge Ronan Munro said he drove a “carefully orchestrated plan” to take money from the state.

Cooks also “exploited” the sympathy with people with Huntington’s disease, he said as he pronounced the sentence of Tae Circuit Court.

Last month, 36 years old, he pleaded guilty for two charges of deception and 16 charges of theft theft. The total involved was 60,334.35 EUR. The money was initially taken by additional social assistance payments and then under invalidity allowance between February 28, 2020 and June 12 last.

In her fraudulent demand, Cooks claimed that she was suffering from a debilitating disease that would eventually be terminal.

Judge Munro imposed a four -year sentence, but suspended the last year for what he said was a “deliberate fraud over an extended period of time.”

He said the fraud would have been discovered much faster if it had not been for the Covid-19 Pandemic. This was an abuse of the public system and authentic plaintiffs, he said.

The judge said that Cookes wrote to him claiming to be a victim of psychosis, but he will not accept a self -diagnosis.

Cookes has five previous convictions for similar crimes, including posing as a psychologist and taking money for a children’s trip to Lapland that never happened, he said.

However, he mentioned that she had entered an early guilt in this case.

He delayed the punishment by July last year, while Cookes has been in prison since he was arrested then outside a post office in Tralee.

Previously, the Court heard that Cookes told the department in February 2020 that it was diagnosed with Huntington’s disease and epilepsy. She claimed that the disease has limited life and will prove a terminal, but could not see a neurologist because of Covid-19 restrictions.

It attracted 74 payments totaling EUR 17,747 in additional well -being payments, the court heard.

Prosecutor Barrister Tom Rice, trained by the state applicant Diane Reidy, said that Cookes accused the “Major Discrimination” Department when he sought the certification of his disease.

She wrote letters of complaint saying that she is no longer able to hold a pen and could not access support because of the pandemic rules.

The cookies led a GP to complete a form in 2020, saying it was previously diagnosed with the disease. She caused the doctor to believe that she was striving to catch things or use the stairs or shower and that her balance was affected.

“On the nominal value, everything seemed very plausible and the invalidity allowance was granted,” said Mr. Rice.

However, the deception was rapidly revealed after Guardaí, alerted by the department officers, obtained the medical documents. The cookies failed to present themselves for scans and appointments ordered by her family doctor and did not do genetic tests for the alleged condition.

Cooke’s lawyer, Richard Liston, previously said that a “snow ball of deception became an avalanche” during the time. His client offered apologies to the doctor and department.