A former Melbourne charity director who siphoned off half a million dollars from a neighbourhood centre over more than a decade has been sentenced to six months in prison, sparking outrage among those who uncovered her deception.
Angela Stathopoulos, who led the Prahran Community Learning Centre (now Prahran Place Neighbourhood Centre) from 2010, pleaded guilty to 10 counts of obtaining financial advantage by deception.
While the charity operated on a limited budget, Stathopoulos awarded herself a six-figure salary and used community funds for luxury holidays to destinations including Disneyland, New York, Hawaii, and Universal Studios.
Accountant and volunteer Maggie Burke, who helped expose the fraud, told A Current Affair on Monday, June 2 that she was stunned when she first accessed the charity’s bank records.
“There was significant spending on personal items like airfares and fashion and style consultants,” she said.
The charity uncovered 4,800 fraudulent transactions, and Victoria Police Detective Sergeant Lisa Herbert revealed that 83% of the centre’s transactions during Stathopoulos’ tenure were illegitimate.
“When you’re in a position of power and within a position of trust within a charity… to be taking from that and those people that need it, it really is one of the lowest of lows,” Herbert said.
Stathopoulos was sentenced in the County Court of Victoria to three years in prison, with two and a half years suspended—meaning she will serve only six months behind bars. Volunteers have criticised the sentence as too lenient given the scale of the betrayal.
Source: A Current Affair
