Woman Sentenced to Prison After Lying on Resume To Land $185,000 Per Year Job
An Australian woman was sentenced to a minimum of a year in prison after lying on her resume to land a high paying job with a regional government department.
Veronica Hilda Theriault, 46, was convicted of deception, dishonesty and abuse of public office Tuesday, according to CNN.
Theriault submitted a fraudulent curriculum vitae containing false information about her previous employment and education.
“That CV led to you being interviewed for the job — you supplied the document to the Department of Premier and Cabinet and [it] is the basis for dishonestly dealing with documents,” District Court Judge Michael Boylan said during her sentencing, Australia’s ABC News reported.
Theriault also pretended to be a previous employer for a reference check after having an interview, in which she “gave glowing feedback” about herself.
She pleaded guilty to all charges and was sentenced for 25 months and a non-parole period of a year.
Theriault applied for the role of chief information officer for South Australia’s Department of the Premier and Cabinet back in 2017.
The position came with a salary of 270,000 Australian dollars a year, or about $185,000 American dollars.
She worked for the department for over a month before she was fired, earning 33,000 Australian dollars or about $22,500 American dollars.
“You fraudulently obtained employment for which you were paid a large salary and in the course of which you may have had access to sensitive material,” Boylan said.
South Australia’s Department of the Premier and Cabinet became suspicious of Theriault’s case when her mental health began to worsen shortly after she began working in August.
Boylan said he took her mental health struggles and bipolar disorder into account before her sentencing, but CNN reported that her conduct seemed to have been planned.
According to Seven News, Theriault had apologized for her behavior and said that she was “deeply ashamed and embarrassed.” Her counsel added that her crimes were “not particularly sophisticated” and it was unlikely that she would repeat them in the future.
However, Prosecutor Sarah Attard told the court that Theriault had also submitted fraudulent resumes to two other companies in 2012 and 2014.
Theriault also used a photo of supermodel Kate Upton as her profile picture on LinkedIn, ABC News reported.
In addition, it was found that she hired her brother to a role that he was not qualified soon after she was had begun working for the government department.
Update: On Dec. 4, the Department of Premier and Cabinet responded to The Western Journal’s request for comment and issued the following statement:
“Ms Theriault was appointed following a competitive selection process. There were serious concerns about her capability and conduct shortly after she commenced on 3 August 2017,” a DPC spokesperson said. “As a result she was directed, on 8 September 2017, to remain absent from duty, before the former Chief Executive terminated Ms Theriault’s employment effective 19 September 2017, on the grounds of serious misconduct.”
The department confirmed that after a review of the recruitment process, it implemented “more vigorous pre-employment screening requirements for senior roles within DPC.”
“As Judge Boylan highlighted during sentencing, Ms Theriault’s deceitful conduct was not without some sophistication and planning to fraudulently obtain employment,” the spokesperson told The Western Journal.
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