Mother and daughter who scammed two Victorian TAFEs sentenced to jail and community corrections orders

A mother-daughter duo who scammed more than $2 million from two Victorian tertiary training organisations in a "brazenly dishonest" plot have been handed jail time and community correction orders.

Rebecca Taylor, 55, and Heather Snelleksz, 39, previously pleaded guilty to two counts of obtaining financial advantage by deception.

The pair fraudulently received $1.8 million from Warrnambool's South West TAFE and a further $221,000 from Bendigo's Kangan Institute for engineering training services they did not provide between September 2013 and October 2015.

In the Melbourne County Court on Monday, Judge Gerard Mullaly sentenced Taylor to eight months' imprisonment and a four-year community corrections order.

Snelleksz was handed a three-year community corrections order.

During the sentencing, Judge Mullaly said the women had received a significant amount of public money through the scheme.

"You were brazenly dishonest," he said.

The court heard Taylor operated a training company called TayTell, which provided basic office skills. This gave her access to the personal details of a large number of people who had received other training through the company. Snelleksz was a hairdresser.

"You were not in the least qualified to provide any level of engineering training," he said.

Judge Mullaly said Taylor negotiated contracts with the TAFEs and the duo then enrolled individuals in the training without their knowledge.

The women falsely said the participants had been trained to gain a level four engineering qualification before invoices were then sent out to the education institutes.

"The only effort, if it can be called that, was what you both saw as the tedious but lucrative task of filling in forms and spreadsheets with false information to get the pay out," Judge Mullaly said.

'How's the sausages going?'

The judge said excerpts from text messages read out in court between the pair were "shameful" and showed the pair were aware their actions were dishonest.

Those messages saw the women refer to filling in false documents as a "sausage factory". In one instance, Taylor checked in with her daughter to ask "how's the sausages going?" 

Another text message saw Taylor encourage Snelleksz to complete the administration required for the scheme.

"I know it's boring process work, but just sit there saying, 'Show me the money', each time you finish one," Taylor told Snelleksz.

The court heard about a month later, Taylor text messaged Snelleksz to say she was concerned the scam would be exposed.

Judge Mullaly said Taylor was the main architect and beneficiary of the scam, and therefore had higher moral culpability, while Snelleksz had assisted her mother.

During the sentencing, the court heard both women had no previous criminal history and the two women's earlier guilty pleas meant a lengthy trial was avoided.

Both women had good rehabilitation prospect and low chance of reoffending, Judge Mullaly said.

He said his sentence considered the 10-year delay surrounding the proceedings, during which time the women had moved to Queensland and Snellecksz had retained as a teacher. 

"It has been a heavy weight, dominating and to a degree restricting the lives of each of you," he said.

In September, former South West TAFE executive Maurice Molan pleaded guilty to misconduct in public office for engaging Taylor to provide training at the institute without evidence she was qualified to do so.

Mr Molan avoided a conviction and was fined $2,500. 

A further pecuniary penalty order for funds sought by the prosecution will be heard in February 2024.