A fraudster stole almost $80,000 from an aged care home, taking advantage of "innocent, trusting" residents to feed a gambling habit.
Over 20 months Lory Jane Librando, who worked at the Royal Freemasons Benevolent Institution in Holt, swindled three residents, including a woman with an intellectual disability, out of money.
Librando, 40, also forged invoices resulting in the theft of about $48,500 from the business.
She faced the start of sentencing in the ACT Supreme Court on Tuesday, after pleading guilty to charges including obtaining financial advantage by deception and theft.
While two of the victims have since died, the manager of the aged care home provided an impact statement to the court.
"While appearing nice and friendly to residents she betrayed their trust," the statement read.
"I suffer from sleepless nights plagued by the question: 'How could she have done this to these vulnerable people?'
The manager said the victims were "innocent, trusting, older people".
Agreed facts state Librando started working at the aged care home, also known as the Kalparrin Aged Care Facility, in 2012.
She was initially a receptionist but her role expanded to include paying invoices for maintenance and other administrative tasks.
However, it wasn't until 2018, six years later, that she started to defraud her employer and residents alike.
Librando stole almost $17,500 from a woman with an intellectual disability by using her eftpos card to withdraw cash on several occasions.
She also took more than $10,500 from an old man, and made a series of deposits back into his bank account over several months.
She deposited $8740 into the man's account, before the crimes came to the attention of her employer and the police.
In August 2019, Librando stole $380 from another male resident by making cash withdrawals, but his daughter soon noticed two unusual transactions.
The daughter, who had power of attorney, was able to view CCTV footage of the ATM transactions and identified the person as an employee of the aged care home.
Librando was stood down from work, and the business engaged a forensic accountant who uncovered the other crimes.
Between January 2018 and August 2019, Librando created 43 fraudulent invoices by making a stamp with her boss' signature on it.
The nursing home then paid these fraudulent invoices into Librando and her husband's joint bank account.
The money stolen came to a total of $76,941.
The police investigation was delayed due to COVID-19, but in March 2023 Librando was interviewed by police.
She told officers her mental health had deteriorated while working at the aged care home due to seeing residents die, and associations she drew to her life in the Philippines.
Librando also said a resident had once asked her to take their eftpos card to pay a chemist bill, which she did, but also withdrew money for herself from an ATM.
She admitted to using three resident's cards to withdraw cash, and that she would create false invoices in the name of her husband's company.
The 40-year-old told police she used the money to gamble on the pokies.
On Tuesday, prosecutor Claire Daly said Librando's expressions of remorse were "intertwined with self pity".
"[Librando stole a] large amount of money, engaged in an enormous breach of trust, and has faced very little consequences to date," Ms Daly told the court.
Defence barrister John Lo Schiavo stated his client had post traumatic stress disorder and "an ongoing battle with the disease".
"There was remorse and unhappiness with the conduct, now unfortunately it didn't stop the conduct," he said.
Justice Belinda Baker is set to hand down her sentence at a later date.
Librando remains on bail, having spent no time in custody for the crimes.
