A woman wearing an Adidas hoodie and covering her face with a headscarf yelled and swore at police as she was arrested for allegedly partaking in a childcare scam.
The mother was among 23 women and a man who were arrested this week over an alleged fake day care plot in south-west Sydney.
Police allege Red Roses Day Care company did not actually care for any children but was set up to receive government subsidies for child care.
Police arrested seven women and a man on Tuesday before arresting 16 women on Thursday morning. One of them swore as she was arrested
Twenty-three women and a man have been arrested this week over an alleged fake day care plot. Pictured: One of the arrested women
The parents, from south-west Sydney, were arrested as part of a police crackdown on Red Roses Day Care company. Pictured: One of the arrested women
Police claim up to 150 people used the business to fraudulently claim a rebate of up to $146 a week per child. Pictured: One of the arrested women
One of the women wearing an Adidas hoodie shouted at a police officer who was filming her arrest
Police claim parents used the business to fraudulently claim a rebate of up to $146 a week per child.
The scam allegedly defrauded taxpayers of more than $4million.
Police arrested seven women and a man on Tuesday before arresting 16 women on Thursday morning.
One of the women wearing an Adidas hoodie shouted and swore at a police officer who was filming her arrest.
‘I’m going to stick my finger up your f****** a***,’ she shouted, showing her middle finger.
Police allege that around 150 parents each claimed fraudulent rebates for between three and seven children in care.
Red Roses Family Day Care looked like a legitimate business operating out of multiple sites in Sydney and Wollongong.
It said it provided ‘safe, nurturing and loving’ care to more than 450 children but police allege there were no real children, just photographs of them.
Play areas had been mocked up, timesheets faked and rosters fixed, police allege.
In May police charged 17 people over the alleged scam and they are all before the courts.
One of those was Alee Farmann who founded and directed the business.
Farmann was allegedly raking in $30,000 a month, drove a Range Rover and purchased a flash $1.5million townhouse last year.
But New South Wales Police allege the 49-year-old Iraqi refugee’s success was built on a series of lies.
A woman is arrested for allegedly using a fake day care company to receive childcare subsidies
Detectives arrested more than 20 women this week over their alleged role in a family day care fraud syndicate
A woman is arrested and taken to a police station accused of enrolling her child in a fraudulent day care scheme
Detectives allege the day care centre went to great lengths to make it seem real, including holding a graduation ceremony where he shook hands with parents.
During the supposed ‘graduation’ ceremony last December, Year 6 students were handed mortarboard hats and several adults were given ‘educator awards’.
At one point, the woman announcing the awards admitted she did not know an educator ‘very well’.
A smiling Mr Harmann was filmed introducing himself and giving a brief speech, while shaking hands with several ‘educators’.
But within the months, the whole alleged plot came crashing down.
Police arrested 18 people in 23 raids from southwest Sydney to Wollongong in May.
All but one of the three men aged 24, 40 and 49, and 15 women aged 21 to 44, were charged – three with directing and 14 with participating in a criminal group.
One of the women charged allegedly had $35,000 cash in her handbag when she was arrested at her home in South Granville.
Police seized cash and a new Range Rover, along with large volumes of documentation, including business records, and two electronic control devices.
Alee Farmann was charged with knowingly directing the activities of a criminal group – in the form of his alleged Red Roses Day Care scam, which pocketed government subsidies
Farmann had reason to smile: He purchased this $1.5 million townhouse just last year
His home included a well-lit, ultra-modern kitchen with an island
The properties allegedly involved in the scam included one house that only had electricity for six days in February and never housed any children.
Farmann’s alleged syndicate is accused of going to extraordinary lengths to conceal the operation that put bikie gangs to shame.
‘We saw a level of sophistication or coordination in this that we don’t see in outlaw motorcycle gangs,’ Acting Assistant Commissioner Stuart Smith said.
‘It created time sheets, it had photographs of children that were not in care.
‘It had mock-up areas, it had an administrative structure and rostering – like anything else in a legitimate business.’
Assistant Commissioner Smith said the company designed processes to evade authorities and ‘defeat’ physical and phone auditing by the NSW Education Department, which regulates the scheme in the state.
Handcuffed: Farmann is taken away by police after being arrested at his home in May
The syndicate is accused of going to extraordinary lengths to conceal the operation that put bikie gangs to shame
He said if one site was audited, the rest of the syndicate would find out by the end of the day and get ready to comply with any subsequent audit.
Police discovered a number of ‘vulnerabilities’ during their investigation and are working with state and federal education departments to address them.
Police said they would target 150 parents who laid claims to rebates from the federal government.
‘There are legitimate children’s names and entities… they just weren’t being cared for. The whole thing was a structured business,’ Assistant Commissioner Smith said.
‘What we’ve taken out were the (alleged) professional facilitators behind this syndicate and we won’t rule out further interviews and we won’t rule out further significant arrests.’
Investigators believe there are many similar operations in NSW, and 29 people have been charged and 21 convicted in recent years.
As for Farmann and was granted bail with strict conditions, including a ban on contacting any of his alleged associates.
He is also banned from providing child care services or engaged in ‘any employment under government benefits or care schemes’, including the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) or aged care operations.
All but one of the three men aged 24, 40 and 49, and 15 women aged 21 to 44, who were arrested were charged – three with directing and 14 with participating in a criminal group