Woman who preyed on teenage boys on the run from police

A female predator who targeted teenage boys through social media is on the run from police.

Natalia Burgess, 31, was jailed for two years two months in November, 2013, and had recently breached her prison release conditions.

Counties Manukau police said there was a warrant to arrest Burgess and she was known to frequent the Mangere and Clover Park suburbs.

The Auckland woman created several fake personas of females aged 18 to 20 on Facebook and Bebo, using the profiles to communicate with teenage boys and request access to their social media and bank accounts.

Burgess told one victim in 2008 that she had a daughter and asked for money to help with her care. The victim and his mother gave Burgess $379.

In 2011, she began a relationship with a 13-year-old boy, pretending to be a few years older than him.

Burgess accessed his Facebook account without permission and sent messages to his friends pretending to be him before changing his password.

She was also sentenced on a charge of obtaining by deception after going to a Wellington home for young pregnant women in 2006 when she wasn't carrying a baby.

Burgess was given permission to live there but did not keep up with her living costs. When asked to provide evidence of her pregnancy she produced a false doctor's letter.

She was asked to leave, having accumulated a $1400 debt.

In October 2014, having served nearly a year of her sentence, Burgess was denied parole and deemed a high risk to the community.

"We believe she is an undue risk to the safety of the community at this time. She clearly needs the one-on-one counselling, not just to address the criminogenic factors but also to help her prepare a directed, workable and relevant after-release safety plan, and also a plan to address what seems to be intensive media attention," the Parole Board said.

"It may well be that on her release from prison that attention will continue and she knows how best to handle it without it causing further psychological damage to her."

Anyone with information about Burgess is urged to contact Sergeant Andrew Parkinson on 09 261 1300 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

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