General News
2 April, 2026
Local deceives banks, charity for money
A Maryborough man has pleaded guilty in the County Court of Victoria to several deception offences, where he used dishonoured cheques over a two year period to obtain $658,207 to fund a gambling habit.
Damien Lennen, 52, pleaded guilty on Monday to nine charges of obtaining financial advantage by deception and three charges of attempting to obtain property by deception.
Mr Lennen deposited a number of cheques from bank accounts that were either closed or had insufficient funds, it was revealed in court.
Two separate police investigations led to the charges before the court, with charges one to 10 arising from the first investigation.
The court heard this investigation involved a transaction with Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand, a not-for-profit organisation supporting women and children affected by domestic violence.
In September, 2022, Mr Lennen deposited a cheque for $11,535 into an account held by the organisation.
The court was told he later contacted the organisation claiming the payment was made in error, stating he had intended to donate $1535 but had entered an additional digit by mistake while attempting to make a bank transfer.
Prosecutors stated Mr Lennen then requested a return $10,000 and provided details for a bank account.
The organisation then transferred $11,535 to the nominated account.
The court heard the cheque used for the initial deposit was later dishonoured on September 5, 2022.
The organisation became aware of this on September 9, along with the fact the payment had been made by cheque rather than bank transfer.
The court was told the incident was followed by a search warrant being executed and an investigation by Victoria Police.
Mr Lennen repaid the full amount to Good Shepherd on April 18, 2024.
Mr Lennen’s second charges relate to two separate incidents at Australia Post outlets.
On February 17, 2023, while on bail from the previous offences, Mr Lennen attended the Carisbrook Australia Post outlet and attempted to deposit an AMP bank cheque to deposit $283,071 into a HSBC account, despite the AMP bank account having insufficient funds.
The court was told he claimed the AMP bank cheque he used was his father’s account as he requested the transfer.
This was followed by another incident in Ballarat of the same offending in May 2023, where Mr Lennen used an ME Bank cheque from an account with insufficient funds, to deposit $283,054 into a HSBC account.
Prosecutors stated Mr Lennen gained early access to the money via a HSBC account before the cheque was dishonored. The prosecutors told the court he quickly dispersed the funds across gambling platforms, and groceries.
The incident prompted an internal review into HSBC’s cheque-clearing processes. HSBC recovered a portion of the money.
Police later executed a search warrant and arrested Mr Lennen.
The prosecutors acknowledged Mr Lennen’s repayment to Good Shepherd and argued he was facing social isolation and the responsibility of being a carer for his parents, who have several health conditions.
However, the County Court judge said Mr Lennen obtained a significant amount of money through a series of deceptions, arguing he had “taken advantage of loop holes” and he “had not reflected or tried to stop.”
She claimed he was “persistent” with “greed” as his motivation, whilst aware of his intentions to stop for the sake of his family.
Mr Lennen will return to the County Court on April 23, 2026 for sentencing.