A Cowra man has been sentenced to prison after coming before Cowra Local Court on June 7 to answer 18 charges.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Benjamin Anthony Platt, 23, of Brisbane Street, plead guilty to nine charges of dishonestly obtain property by deception, two charges of dishonestly obtain financial advantage by deception, two charges of receive/dispose stolen property, a charge of knowingly deal with the proceeds of crime, recklessly deal with the proceeds of crime, receive property stolen outside of NSW and two charges of failing to appear in accordance with bail acknowledgement.
Platt was sentenced to an aggregate term of 18 months in prison, with a non parole period of 12 months and is eligible for release on June 6, 2024.
Platt's solicitor, Ms Langfield, told the court her client was a user of ice at the time of his offending and while it was no excuse for the offences he was trying to make a quick buck.
Since the offences, Ms Langfield said her client has been trying to clean up his behaviour and wanted to be a better family man.
Ms Langfield said Platt hasn't engaged in illicit drugs for a while and this has been a huge wakeup call for him.
She went on to say Platt asked the court for one more chance to prove himself to the community.
Police prosecutor Mr Burgess said there was a strong need for specific and general deterrence for this kind of behaviour.
During sentencing Magistrate Don McLennan said in terms of objective seriousness, singularly each of the offences are not that high, though when taken together, all of them of a similar nature, they are quite serious.
According to police documents tendered in court on October 9, 2020 a victim was contacted by Platt in relation to a Kenworth Prime Mover truck they had advertised for sale, with Platt arranging to visit the victim's house to see the truck.
Platt arrived with a second person that afternoon and agreed to buy the truck for $94,000.
At 3:41pm that day Platt texted the victim he had deposited the money in to the victim's account in two transactions. The victim had Platt sign a receipt of sale contract, which he did using a different name.
The victim then let Platt leave with the truck as they believed Platt had paid them.
On October 10, 2020 the victim enquired with the bank about the money believed to be deposited in their account. They were informed the reference number supplied to him by Platt was non existent and no money had been deposited.
At 10:55am that day the victim was in contact with Platt who made enquiries about buying a second truck from them. Over the course of the day they spoke over text and call.
Police said during this exchange, Platt sent a screenshot of bank details which had over $2 million to the victim saying that was the screenshot of his account.
Over the next few hours, Platt and the person he was with the day before travelled back to the victim's address in Sydney to have a look at the second truck, arriving at 8pm.
When the victim asked to see Platt's licence, he denied the request and both separately contacted the police with Platt alleging he had been threatened by the victim and their associates. When the police arrived, the victim, Platt and his associate all provided statements to police.
Police said when Platt and his associate went to Liverpool Police Station to speak with them about the previous incident, they said they travelled to inspect the truck that day and detailed allegations that a confrontation occurred relating to the truck sold by the victim the day before.
Later in the month a victim contacted Platt about the Kenworth truck he had taken from the first victim on October 9, as Platt had it advertised for sale on Facebook Marketplace.
After several messages it was agreed the victim would purchase the truck in exchange for a 2006 Holden HSV valued at $18,000 and a cash balance of $8,000. On October 20 the victim met with Platt in Cowra and purchased the truck as arranged
Police said Platt provided his drivers licence as proof of ID and provided a unregistered vehicle permit for the truck to the victim.
The facts revealed on October 20 Platt sold the Holden HSV to another victim who then sold it to someone else via auction on November 18.
On February 15, 2021 Platt went to the Cowra Police Station to provide an interview about his interactions with the first victim on October 9 and October 10 of 2020.
Platt told the police he had met with the victim one time on October 10 and was with his partner. Platt's associate told the police they had gone to the victim's address on October 10, denied knowing anything about Platt taking the truck and said Platt was with them the day before.
Police investigated Platt and his associate's location on October 9 and 10 using their phone records which showed they were at the victim's location on both days. Platt was arrested for this on July 15, 2021.
On May 20, 2021 a different victim listed a vehicle they had for sale on Facebook Marketplace.
Police said Platt contacted the victim about the vehicle, and organised to see and purchase it on June 5, 2021.
The victim received a text from Platt asking for their bank details as Platt had missed the bank opening times. After several messages between them, Platt sent the victim a message saying the payment had been completed at 9:58pm on June 4, as well as details of a bank account and a screenshot of a failed Osko payment.
Platt told the victim he expected the payment to come through on June 5, before they made arrangements for Platt to pick up the vehicle
Police said the victim told Platt they wanted to be there when Platt picked up the vehicle so they could check his licence and confirm details. Platt sent the victim false licence details, but did not attach an image of the licence.
The victim wrote an invoice for the sale using the false details Platt had provided them and sent a partial image of the invoice to Platt.
Platt kept saying he had sent the money and was coming down to pick the vehicle up from the victim as he had organised for it to have a service shortly after.
Police say the victim left the key in their letterbox for Platt, upon his request to leave the key out, but said they would be home before Platt got there.
On Thursday, June 10, 2021 the victim received a message from Platt at 5:04pm that he had picked up the car and no one was home at the time.
The victim again requested Platt to send his licence details, to which Platt replied he couldn't at the time as he was driving.
Both the victim and Platt exchanged several more messages about the money not coming through and Platt not sharing his licence details, with Platt making excuses about the bank holding the money.
On July 7, the victim noticed the vehicle's registration had been changed from their name and went to the local police station to provide a statement about the vehicle being fraudulently stolen.
Police spoke with Platt at his address who admitted to talking to the victim, about the vehicle, but denied going to the Illawarra region to get it.
Police said on Friday, June 25, 2021 Platt, plus a co-accused moved a Holden Colorado ute from the ACT into NSW which was listed as stolen. At the time of the report, the circumstances of the theft were still being investigated by ACT police.
The ute was transferred into the co-accused's name on the same day according to RMS records and listed for sale on Facebook Marketplace.
Police said the co-accused then got in touch with a victim who had enquired about the ute.
After negotiating Police said the victim and the co-accused agreed on a car swap in which the victim would swap their VY Holden Commodore for the ute along with paying $2000 in cash to Platt and the co-accused.
On June 30 the victim met with Platt and the co-accused in Cowra and exchanged the cars.
On July 2, 2021 a second victim got in touch with the co-accused about the VY Holden they had listed for sale on Facebook Marketplace.
Police said the victim met with Platt and the co-accused at an address in Boorowa with the intent of buying the vehicle from them.
The victim bought the VY Holden from Platt and the co-accused, with Platt giving the victim a hand written receipt for the car.
On July 11, 2021 the police seized both the VY Holden and the Holden Colorado from both victims. Police went to Platt's address in Boorowa on July 15 and arrested him for these offences.
Police said about 9:20pm on Wednesday, February 3, 2021 a victim purchased an Apple IPhone from Platt for $500.
After enquiring with Platt, the victim transferred the money over PayID using the phone number he provided. Platt told the victim he would send the phone once the funds had cleared.
On Friday, February 5 the victim messaged Platt asking if the money came through, to which he said it had not.
The victim, police said, checked with the bank who informed the victim it had gone through via Osko.
When the victim told Platt this, he told them the funds had gone through 15 minutes earlier and he would post the phone in the morning.
At 11:06pm on February 6 Platt messaged the victim a tracking number.
When the victim entered the tracking number into Auspost it said the number was invalid.
Police said the victim then sent Platt a message about this and when he did not respond, they sent several more messages checking about the phone.
Platt eventually replied for the victim to settle down, he had been out of service and he would sort it out the next day as he had dropped it at the post office.
Police said on Thursday, February 11 the victim sent two messages to Platt about the phone.
Platt replied to the victim saying he had taken the day off work to sort it out, and told told the victim to not come at him accusing him of anything.
Platt said he had to go to the branch to sort it out.
Police said at 4:09pm Platt sent the victim a message saying he had been at the post office for the past two hours trying to sort it out and it is in review.
He told the victim to send him their bank details so he could send the funds back until the phone came.
Police said no funds were transferred back to the victim.
Platt told the victim he believed he didn't have to send the money back and had 14 days before the police would do anything.
On February 15, 2021 Platt told the victim he had been in Armidale Police Station to talk about the delivery of the phone and they had informed him he had 16 days to send it. Platt told the victim to not call him a scammer and if they did he would block them saying it would be harassment.
Police said Platt then said for all he knew the victim was trying to scam him.
At 2:30pm on Wednesday, February 24, 2021 the victim went to Amidale Police Station and spoke with police about the incident. The police informed Platt had not been in to talk to them and he was actively avoiding the police at the time due to two other warrants.
On November 8, 2022 Platt failed to appear at Liverpool Local Court in relation to other separate fraud offences and due to his whereabouts being unknown, Cowra Local Court placed a warrant out for his arrest in relation to an outstanding court attendance notice on November 29.
Platt presented himself to Yass Police Station on December 28, 2022 and told them he did not show up to court on November 8 due to due to being in hospital with a farming related injury.
