A former model and real estate agent is back behind bars after her life again spiralled out of control due to her drug addiction.
Monique Agostino, 28, was sentenced at Sutherland Local Court in Sydney’s south on Thursday to nine months imprisonment with a five-month non-parole period.
She pleaded guilty to possessing someone else’s identification to commit fraud, larceny, drug possession, drug-driving, possessing goods suspected of being stolen and driving an unregistered, uninsured car while disqualified.
It will be her second time in jail. In September 2020, she was sentenced to two years in Silverwater Women’s Correctional Centre – one of Australia’s toughest female prisons.
Back then she pleaded guilty to a series of masked robberies with teenage boys, drug offences, shoplifting and having a knife in a Target store.
Former model and real estate agent Monique Agostino (pictured) is back behind bars after her life again spiralled out of control due to her drug addiction
Agostino (pictured) was sentenced to nine months imprisonment with a five-month non-parole period at Sutherland Local Court in Sydney’s south
Agostino, who is from Sydney’s well-to-do Northern Beaches, appealed the sentence’s severity and was released on bail.
The appeal was subsequently thrown out when she failed to show up to her court appearance.
But even after serving her time, the mum-of-one was unable to escape her drug and crime demons.
The court heard there were 15 warrants issued for her arrest in recent years and that her drug use escalated when she lost her driving licence and was not able to work in real estate.
Magistrate Hugh Donnelly said Agostino was using amphetamines such as ice on a weekly basis up until her arrest and that her legal aid lawyer’s plans for a community-based sentence would not help her drug addiction, news.com.au reported.
In September 2020, she was sentenced to two years in Silverwater Women’s Correctional Centre (pictured) one of Australia’s toughest prisons
Agostino was a getaway driver for teenage boys (pictured) who broke into an Italian restaurant
Her lawyer argued the former Instagram model had a lot of potential if she was given a chance and that she had been studying online
The magistrate also pointed out that she had a record of not showing up to court and was ‘a persistent offender when it comes to driving while disqualified — it’s at least the third time she’s come to court for that’.
Her lawyer said the former Instagram model had a lot of potential if she was given a chance and that she had been studying online.
‘If you speak to her directly, you’d be impressed. She’s an intelligent individual who has used her abilities for criminal (reasons) instead of constructive reasons… that’s not to say it will always be that way,’ the lawyer said.
Agostino, who was appearing by video link, asked the court to let her ‘have some words’ but the magistrate refused, saying she had legal representation.
Before her descent from social media star to serial offender began, Agostino had thousands of followers after sharing racy photos of her wearing bikinis on the beach and in a tight Catwoman outfit.
Her entry into a life of crime came in 2018, when she was involved in a series of burglaries in Sydney’s north shore.
The then 22-year-old became getaway driver for teenage boys who robbed an Italian restaurant and tried to break into a fruit shop and café.
There were 15 warrants issued for Agostino’s arrest in recent years, the court heard
Monique Agostino (pictured) once had a legion of online followers
Monique Agostino is pictured in a NSW Police mugshot
The crew donned black masks and used chisels to break into the Pound of Pizza restaurant at Killarney Heights on November 6, 2018.
On the same day, Agostino was also caught using a stolen credit card to buy $11.55 worth of fast food from McDonald’s in Brookvale.
The card had been reported stolen from the Stanley Street Cafe at St Ives earlier that day.
She was also convicted of stealing a $90 jacket from Supre and possessing a knife and drugs – meth and diazepam – inside Target in Blacktown’s Westpoint Shopping Centre.
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