But Judge Warburton said the most serious of the charges was the deception she committed against a large number of people, most of whom had never met her.
“Your offending is not in the abstract against an unknown, large invisible corporation. You offending had a significant and disturbing impact on a number of ordinary people, who were just trying to get on with their lives,” she said.
“You invaded their lives and made them feel vulnerable. They feel you know about their personal lives and they no longer feel safe.”
This included a couple who thought they were buying a caravan, where she watched them enter their credit card details for a pre-purchase inspection and then used those details to transfer $35,000 from their account into her own.
On another occasion Aiolupotea-Nofoagatotoa impersonated a client to gain access to their bank account, stealing $2150. She even continued to steal from people after they had set up new bank accounts as a result of her offending.
Finally, the judge said she had targeted a couple and their business, essentially stealing their identities and committing numerous frauds against them from March 2022 to September 2023.
Through the Inland Revenue Department (IRD), the woman gained access to their accounts and impacted nearly every aspect of their lives. She gained access to their bank accounts, telephone accounts and online shopping accounts.
She shopped at Placemakers and The Toolshed and even interfered with their Air New Zealand account.
One victim, who has name suppression, told the court the feeling of someone stealing from her was disturbing, frustrating and unfair. It had taken over her life.
“I have lost a lot of time dealing with this fraud situation and it has felt like a fulltime job many times in dealing with it all. The upheaval of the relentless fraud attempts in fighting the fraud needs to end. The time and energy in clearing my name and my company is large and is hard so the debt is not mine to repay when Lexi has achieved in receiving money and goods.”
She described how in 2022 through her company account information, Spark provided Aiolupotea-Nofoagatotoa with SIM cards for her and her husband’s mobile phones.
“That was the moment in my life that I felt my whole identity had been taken. This provided the next level of fraud in 2022 and it has been extremely hard dealing with since then.”
There had been so many attempts on the company bank account they had had to lock it, not only grounding the company but also affecting their clients, employees and suppliers. She even feared the bank would close the account because of the offending.
“She knows so much about my personal identity from all the information she has gained from accessing so many aspects of my life,” the woman told the court.
Aiolupotea-Nofoagatotoa’s lawyer Mike Kilbride said even though a custodial sentence was pending, his client was keen to pay reparation, saying she wanted to find work once she left jail.
“She knows what she’s done to these people and the impact it’s had on their lives,” he said.
Police prosecutor Lydia McIvor said Aiolupotea-Nofoagatotoa had multiple chances to address her addiction and had failed to complete programmes, while continuing to offend on bail.
At that point, Aiolupotea-Nofoagatotoa got angry and tried to leave the dock but was ordered to stay.
The judge said Kilbride had pointed to a number of tragedies in her life including an abusive father, the murder of a cousin and a violent relationship that resulted in her being kidnapped.
The judge said she could understand how this could lead someone to drug abuse, which was the reason for this offending. She had also pleaded guilty and in doing so had taken responsibility for her offending.
But she could see no evidence of remorse and no meaningful attempt at rehabilitation. And most significantly, she had continued to offend while on bail.
Aiolupotea Nofoagatotoa had earlier admitted and been convicted of a number of charges including burglary, forgery, obtaining by deception, money laundering, accessing a computer for dishonest purposes, causing loss by deception, shoplifting, theft, intentional damage, resisting police, failing to assist an officer in a search, refusing to give particulars and receiving.
She was jailed for three years and nine months and ordered to pay $4600 in reparation. The judge also ordered the destruction of a screwdriver and Aiolupotea-Nofoagatotoa’s phone, as well as the erasure of the iCloud account.
Catherine Hutton is an Open Justice reporter, based in Wellington. She has worked as a journalist for 20 years, including at the Waikato Times and RNZ. Most recently she was working as a media adviser at the Ministry of Justice.
