Finger lickin' fraudster pushes luck

Wiremu Young Waimio Carroll, 22, pleaded guilty in Masterton District Court on Thursday to three charges of using a document to defraud.

A Masterton man who successfully used a fake $50 note at a Wellington KFC was so pleased with the result he went back for seconds.

Wiremu Young Waimio Carroll, 22, pleaded guilty in Masterton District Court on Thursday to three charges of using a document to defraud.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Jodie Lawrence said Carroll had been in Wellington about 2pm on March 28.

At Te Papa, Carroll had approached a staff member at the Air New Zealand exhibition and attempted to spend a counterfeit $50 banknote.

The staff member looked at the banknote and asked if it was real.

Carroll replied that he was "just joking", and took the note back before leaving the museum.

Later that day, Carroll went to a KFC restaurant in Wellington and ordered a meal, paying with a fake $50 note.

The staff member accepted the note and gave change.

Carroll then returned to the same restaurant and spent a second counterfeit $50 note, again receiving a meal and change.

Questioned later by police, Carroll said he had received the notes from his cousin and "thought he'd see if he could use them".

Judge Jan Kelly said they were "serious charges, carrying a maximum of seven years' imprisonment".

She said Carroll was currently serving a sentence of community detention for theft, and had a history of burglary, theft and fraud.

The judge sentenced Carroll to four months' community detention, from 7pm to 7am seven days a week, beginning on September 6, when his current sentence ends.

Carroll was also ordered to pay $100 reparation.