A couple from WA’s Midwest have received spent convictions — meaning they will not receive criminal records — for their role in a cattle rustling operation.
Key points:
Emma and Clinton Spong each pleaded guilty to one count of forging a fake record with intent to defraudThey each received a fine and were ordered to complete community serviceThey received spent convictions and will not have criminal records
Clinton and Emma Spong both pleaded guilty in Perth’s District Court to one count each of fraud for producing false invoices for the transport of stolen cattle.
The pair own Sponghaul — a Moora-based livestock trucking company — and had doctored the invoices for Gascoyne pastoralists Richard Arends and Elizabeth Third.
The Spongs, Third, and Arends, as well as four others, were charged in 2021 as part of the Rural Crime Squad’s Operation Topography, which investigated the theft of hundreds of cattle in the state’s north to the value of about $800,000.
The crime operation shocked the livestock industry and at the time was referred to as WA’s largest cattle-rustling bust.
Arends and Third, the owners of Edmund Station, were convicted in Perth District Court last month of cattle theft.
Clinton Spong’s legal representative Johnson Kitto told the court his client was on the periphery and an innocent courier who let loyalty and friendship overrule common sense.
As part of the statement of facts, the court heard the Spongs on several occasions picked up cattle from Mardie Station for Arends and Third, transporting them to a couple of different locations.
While the original invoices said Mardie Station, the Spongs’ changed them to say they had picked up the livestock from Edmund Station.
The court heard Emma Spong suggested to Elizabeth Third to burn the original paperwork that had Mardie Station written on it.
Rachael Third (right) received a suspended sentence last month.(
ABC News: Joanna Menagh
)
Police found the original invoices during a raid at Edmund Station.
The court heard at the time the Spongs didn’t know the cattle were stolen, but they were aware police and investigators from the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development were probing suspected criminal activity.
The Spongs’ legal representatives said they altered the invoices at least in part because they wanted them to the match cattle movement records known as National Vendor Declarations (NVDs).
Judge Charlotte Wallace told the court she was inclined to agree with the state prosecutor that the Spongs knowingly altered the invoices with the intention of misleading investigators.
“I accept in totality that [the Spongs’ involvement] was ill-placed, misconceived, and founded on loyalty and friendship to the principal offenders,” she said.
“It was planned, it just wasn’t very well thought out.
“There were discussions about it and pre-thought put into it but it was relatively unsophisticated and wasn’t effective in deceiving law enforcement.”
Hundreds of cattle were allegedly stolen as part of a large rustling operation.(
ABC News: Cason Ho
)
Judge Wallace said the couple were not at risk of recidivism and the forgery they committed was not in keeping with their character and history.
She said the pair had nothing to gain by committing the fraud and the court had received glowing character references for the pair from friends and family.
Judge Wallace ordered the Spongs to pay fines of $1,500 each, with Clinton Spong ordered to do 50 hours of community service and Emma Spong to do 40 over the next 10 months.
In her sentencing remarks, Judge Wallace said the pair had already suffered a level of punishment with the court case and subsequent media coverage negatively impacting them and their family.
“Whilst the offence is serious, it was unusual offending and at the lower end of the scale,” she said.
“It was misplaced loyalty for friends and you were unaware of the gravity of the offences.”
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Posted Yesterday at 10:14amMon 18 Dec 2023 at 10:14am, updated Yesterday at 10:16amMon 18 Dec 2023 at 10:16am
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