Trust worker admits 17 counts of using forged documents

A fraudster who siphoned more than $100,000 out of a charitable trust using a fake company has admitted 17 counts of using forged documents.

Frances Katrina Edmonds worked for the Te Kohanga Reo Trust between 2007 and 2016, the police prosecutor told the Wellington District Court this morning.

Part of what the trust did was provide a medical scheme for students, the prosecutor said.

In December 2014, Edmonds set up a new payee for the trust, a fictitious company named J R Chartwell Ltd.

She then put through invoices for medical products, costing thousands of dollars.

Over the next year and a half, Edmonds created 17 invoices, charging the trust just under $102,500.

In August 2016, a review revealed J R Chartwell did not exist on the companies register, and the bank account attached to it was Edmonds' personal account, which her wages went into.

She pleaded guilty today to 17 charges of using forged documents.

The prosecutor said she had not previously appeared before the court.

Edmonds was remanded to October 18 for sentence, and her case has been referred to Restorative Justice.