A "highly intelligent" fraudster felt justified in duping a man out of more than $700,000 because the victim "used to use [him] as an underage prostitute", a court has heard.
Former Red Hill man Jeremiah Thomas James Deakin, 32, posed as a fictitious spy during an elaborate campaign of deception that netted him $718,904 of the victim's money between 2016 and 2018.
His bail was revoked on Tuesday, when he appeared in the ACT Supreme Court for sentence after pleading guilty to a charge of obtaining property by deception.
Called to give evidence, Deakin told the court he had left home as a teenager after being "neglected" by his father and stepmother, who would send him to school with holes in his shoes.
Left to pay for basic living expenses by himself, he said he turned to frequenting "gay beats" and accepting between $50 and $200 for sexual favours at the age of 14.
When he was 15, he also signed up to gay chat rooms and made similar arrangements with men.
"I guess I was desperate enough to take my chance in asking people for money," Deakin told the court.
Deakin said he met his victim, who was in his late 50s at the time, on either Gaydar or Manhunt.
He said they subsequently had sex at the victim's house on weekends, but this eventually stopped after several months because the man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, made him feel "horrible".
Nevertheless, the court heard, the man continued giving Deakin money voluntarily for years afterwards.
In October 2015, however, the victim "cut off" this financial assistance and sent Deakin a letter, which left the 32-year-old feeling he had been "discarded".
Having become reliant on the man for money, Deakin said he "just started lying" to fund addictions that had him gambling away up to $5000 a night and spending thousands of dollars per week on drugs.
According to a statement of agreed facts, Deakin's offending began in 2016 when he convinced the victim he was facing a number of criminal charges arising from a Centrelink debt.
He proceeded to request, using both his own identity and that of a fictitious person named Sarah Bradford, money he claimed he needed to pay legal and medical bills, rent, fines and living expenses.
"The [victim] believed that he was liable to pay for these expenses because in early 2016, [Deakin] told [him], amongst other things, that an 'agreement' had been reached with a magistrate that required him to pay for these expenses," the agreed facts state.
"Sarah Bradford", who corresponded with the victim using a Gmail account in fact controlled by Deakin, initially purported to be a solicitor employed by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation.
As time went by, the persona morphed into a child abuse investigator and an ASIO officer.
Throughout his correspondence with the victim, Deakin also incorrectly asserted that he had been held in custody and that there were criminal charges related to the pair's sexual relationship.
After transferring Deakin money 164 times, the victim went to police and said he had "felt under threat when the allegations of improper relationships with [Deakin] were made".
"[The victim] felt threatened and scared of what could happen to him if he did not meet the required financial demands," the agreed facts state.
"[He] further stated to police that he believed your life is more or less over if you were suggested to be a paedophile, whether it was true or not."
The court heard the victim had not been charged with child sex offences, and it was unclear exactly how old the offender was when the pair began to have sexual contact.
Deakin, who told investigating police the victim "used to use me as an underage prostitute", said on Tuesday that the man's actions had left him believing he had "a moral justification" to commit the fraud.
But he told the court he now recognised he was wrong, saying "sorry isn't really enough" to express how remorseful he felt.
Prosecutor Elizabeth Wren urged Chief Justice Lucy McCallum to impose a term of full-time imprisonment, saying no other sentence would be appropriate.
Ms Wren said the victim, now aged in his 70s, would "never fully recover" financially from Deakin's deceit, which had "marred" the man's retirement.
Deakin's lawyer, James Maher, accepted that his client had taken advantage of the victim's "naivety" and their shared history to carry out the fraud.
He asked Chief Justice McCallum to craft a sentence of imprisonment in which Deakin would serve a high proportion on parole, noting the 32-year-old's potential for rehabilitation.
Chief Justice McCallum, who described Deakin as "highly intelligent", initially granted the offender bail until Friday next week, when she indicated she would impose a sentence.
However, the case returned to court within two hours because Mr Maher said there were "no viable options" of accommodation in the ACT community for Deakin, who had recently been living interstate.
Because Deakin's new bail conditions banned him from leaving the territory, the 32-year-old made what Mr Maher described as "the difficult, but mature, decision" to ask that he be remanded in custody.
Chief Justice McCallum obliged and revoked the fraudster's bail.
