Why you should NEVER lie on your resume: Former high-flying bureaucrat is jailed for fabricating her CV after she’d already pocketed a month’s worth of her $270,000 salary
- Veronica Hilda Theriault has been jailed for lying on her CV for a government job
- Theriault fraudulently secured lucrative role as a chief information officer in SA
- The court heard her CV had fake references and a fabricated work history
- Theriault was sentenced to 25 months in jail with a non-parole period of one-year
A former high-flying bureaucrat has been jailed after lying on her resume for a job with the South Australian government.
Veronica Hilda Theriault pleaded guilty to deception and dishonesty charges after fraudulently securing the lucrative chief information officer position with the Department of Premier and Cabinet (DPC) in 2017.
The 46-year-old held the job for just over a month and earned $33,000 of the $270,000 salary before the fraud was uncovered.
Veronica Hilda Theriault (pictured) has been jailed after lying on her resume for a job with the South Australian government
In the District Court on Tuesday, Judge Michael Boylan described her offending as serious and with an element of planning.
‘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,’ he said.
Theriault, of Claremont in WA, was suffering from a bipolar disorder at the time and it was a deterioration in her mental condition which first made SA officials suspicious.
Judge Boylan told the court Theriault’s job application included a CV which detailed fake education achievements and work history.
‘That CV led to you being interviewed for the job — you supplied that document to the Department of Premier and Cabinet and [it] is the basis for dishonestly dealing with documents,’ he said, the ABC reported.
Judge Boylan said in relation to one deception charge, Theriault had given SA government officials the name of a woman from a previous employer who would act as a referee.
Theriault pleaded guilty to deception and dishonesty charges after fraudulently securing the lucrative chief information officer position with the Department of Premier and Cabinet (DPC) in 2017
But he said when a representative from the Department of Premier and Cabinet spoke to the woman, Theriault pretended to be the woman named ‘Ms Best’.
‘She gave glowing feedback about your performance, but in fact you were impersonating Ms Best,’ Judge Boylan said.
In earlier sentencing submissions, defence counsel described Theriault’s offending as not particularly sophisticated and said it involved a unique set of circumstances that were unlikely to be repeated.
The court also heard that her crimes could have been detected much earlier than they actually were and that the 46-year-old was ‘deeply ashamed and embarrassed’.
Theriault also had her brother, Alan Hugh Melville Corkill (pictured), write a false reference claiming she was a senior leadership official with 20 years of experience
But the prosecution said there was an element of planning in her offending and it was not isolated.
The court was told she had used resumes with false information to obtain employment at two other companies in 2012 and 2014 and to win an award in 2014.
It was alleged that Theriault’s motive for her crimes was to benefit financially.
Theriault also had her brother, Alan Hugh Melville Corkill, write a false reference claiming she was a senior leadership official with 20 years of experience.
She later hired Corkill on contracts that earned him more than $23,000 in three weeks.
During sentencing, Judge Boylan took into consideration Theriault’s bipolar disorder and struggles with mental health.
Theriault was sentenced to 25 months in jail with a non-parole period of 12 months.
Theriault was sentenced to 25 months in jail with a non-parole period of 12 months