The former manager of a remote post office will serve six months in jail after stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from Australia Post.
Rebecca Liebelt, 37, was sentenced in the NT Supreme Court earlier this month.
The former franchisee and mother-of-four pleaded guilty in July to stealing more than $425,000 in cash from the Tennant Creek post office.
The court heard Liebelt stole the funds between March 2019 and May 2021.
Justice Sonia Brownhill said in a "sophisticated" offending, Liebelt then used seven bank accounts across four different banks to launder the money.
"This was not offending motivated by some specific need for the money," she said.
"You spent all of the funds on paying bills, on buying personal goods, on business investments and travel."
Money laundered in 'sophisticated' scheme
The court heard Liebelt made 72 fake deposits totalling $404,749.95 into personal and joint bank accounts using the Australia Post bank system.
Some of these accounts were shared with husband Greg Liebelt, a livestock agent who has also been charged with aggravated stealing and obtaining a benefit by deception.
His matter returns to the NT Supreme Court on October 19.
The court heard Rebecca Liebelt also stole an additional $21,000 from the till.
"You moved the stolen funds around repeatedly and withdrew cash from ATMs across Tennant Creek, thereby overcoming the $2,000 cash withdrawal limits," Justice Brownhill said in her sentencing remarks.
"You funnelled some of the stolen cash back into the Tennant Creek Post Office to avoid detection.
"And you also unplugged the internet modem to cause system issues to avoid detection."
Ongoing impact of offending
NT Police launched an investigation in January 2021 after "financial irregularities" prompted Australia Post to conduct a surprise audit.
Liebelt made full admissions to police in May last year.
"Your explanation for the offending is that you were using the stolen funds to prop up the cash flow issues in the business while your husband worked very long hours," the judge said.
Liebelt has been ordered to pay more than $86,000 after Australia Post was awarded a default judgement.
She will also need to repay an additional $79,732.74 in outstanding stolen cash and $79,043.75 in lease termination costs.
Cost to Australia Post
The judge said Australia Post had also lost an additional $365,000 to date in operating costs as it struggled to find a new licensee.
"Public confidence in Australia Post is also most likely to have been affected by your offending," she said.
Justice Brownhill sentenced Liebelt to four years and six months in jail.
However, she said Liebelt would be eligible for 12 months of home detention once she had served six months behind bars.
If she completes that period without breaching terms and conditions, the remainder of the sentence will be suspended.
Australia Post said it swiftly terminated its agreement with Liebelt in the wake of the charges, as the former licensee's conduct "did not meet the standards expected".
They said Australia Post was committed to providing ongoing postal services for Tennant Creek.
