$10,000 reparation ordered for Hastings mum Kelly Hoy's $82,000 ACC fraud

Kellie Hoy, 34, made more than $81,000 worth of ACC claims for children not in her custody. Photo / File

A Hawke's Bay woman who defrauded ACC to the tune of more than $81,000 has been given home detention and ordered to repay $10,000 to the corporation.

Sentenced in the Hastings District Court today, Kellie Louisa Mary Hoy, 33, from Hastings, had previously pleaded guilty to three representative charges of obtaining by deception, dishonestly using a document and using forged documents.

As well as the reparation payment order, she was given eight months' home detention and ordered to complete 100 hours of community work.

The offending began in October 2014, after Hoy lodged a claim with ACC due to injuring her knees playing roller derby, saying she was unable to complete home and community tasks, which included the fulltime care of her three children.

After ACC accepted the claim she started receiving two hours of Home and Community Support Services per week, raised to 61 hours per week during school holiday periods and 48.5 hours per week during the school term in December that year.

Between January 2015 and March 2016 Hoy presented 14 weekly forms to ACC, signed by her and her carer to show the support services she had received.

Throughout discussions with ACC representatives she made numerous comments about the custody, care, needs and schooling of her two sons, whom she said resided with her and attended a Hastings primary school.

She even referred to the difficulties presented by one of her sons in the context of her needing assistance for the care of her children.

However, when ACC investigated Hoy in 2016 it discovered that at no time were her two youngest children living with her in her custody, rather they had been living with their fathers since before her accident.

Both of the boys' fathers confirmed they had court ordered parental custody orders of their sons, who were enrolled in Taranaki schools and had not attended Hastings schools.

The children had visited their mother at her home during the Christmas school holiday period in 2014-15, during which Hoy arranged for her two "needs-based" assessments.

She organised her children to be present at the assessments to support the misrepresentation that she had ongoing parental custody of them.

In its investigation ACC also discovered Hoy had forged the signature of her carer listed on the forms.

During this time she was paid a total $81,928.43 of Home Community Support Services; personally receiving $16,631.83 of this while $65,296.60 was paid to Healthcare New Zealand to carry out services at Hoy's house.

ACC had sought the full amount of $81,928.43 from Hoy.

A spokesperson from The Bay City Rollers had since said that Hoy attended a "fresh meat beginner course" but never played any games of roller derby due to her injury.