Fraud victim “appalled” at Department of Corrections supervision of convicted criminal who attempted another fraud whilst on Community Probation Placement

A convicted sex offender, multiple bankrupt, and fraudster who was only recently convicted in August 2012 by the Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment for illegally running companies whilst an undischarged bankrupt, has been caught out by a previous victim trying to defraud another organisation, this time whilst under the supervision of Community Probation services in Auckland.

Grant Norman King was completing 262.5 hours of a Community Service sentence at the Leaf Trust, and posed as a collector of goods for the Trust on a Community Facebook page, without the consent of the Trust to do so.

According to Leaf Trust’s Peter Grace, whilst on site at the Leaf Trust, and right under the noses of Community Probation Services, Grant King secured a copy of a fundraising brochure from the Leaf Trust,  “twinked” the contact details of the Manager off the brochure, inserted his own Facebook private message contact request, and then posted the amended brochure onto the Helensville Community Facebook page, pretending to have authorisation to collect goods and equipment in person for the Leaf Trust, when he in fact had no such authorisation to do so, thereby potentially implicating 733 Helensville locals (members of the Facebook page) in a grand fraud attempt.

Grant King is no stranger to criminal behaviour, having been featured in the media previously for a host of criminal activities dating back over 30 years.

Steve Taylor, a fraud victim of Grant King who lost $23,500.00, and author of the www.grantnormanking.com website that has tracked Grant King for over 12 months, is “appalled that Grant King attempted to commit a fraud whilst under Department of Corrections supervision, and whilst serving a current sentence for fraudulent behaviour”.

“Grant King is a recidivist convicted con artist, and a convicted sex offender, and it is my honest opinion and belief that Grant King intended to secure donated goods and services himself, sell them, and then keep the money – quite how the Department of Corrections allowed such a person to be working around vulnerable women and children at the Leaf Trust, when the Trust had specifically asked the Department of Corrections to exclude any offenders with sex offences to work at the Trust, is beyond me” said Mr Taylor.

“What was also of concern was that, despite Rachel Cunnliffe, (the Helensville Community Facebook Page moderator who hosted Grant King on the site) being advised of the fraud attempt by Grant King, she initially refused to remove Grant King from the page membership, thereby enabling Grant King to continue the fraud attempt on 733 other local Facebook members”.

“Grant King has basically once again raised his middle finger to the Justice system, and it seems the justice system continues to allow Grant King to do pretty much whatever he likes – this event hardly secures public confidence that offenders on Community Work placement are under any meaningful supervision, or that sufficient background checks are completed”.

“If this is an example of how lax Community service supervision of offenders is, then we may as well just dispense with the sentence, and allow offenders to roam free, for all the dis-incentive Community service appears to provide” said Mr Taylor.

“Offenders aren’t supposed to be able to plot their next crime whilst serving a sentence for their previous crime – however it seems no-one told Grant King about this. As I have said before, it will not be the convictions or court sentences that will deter Grant King – public exposure of who he is, and what he is doing to try and create more victims is the key deterrent. Since the launch of the www.grantnormanking.com website, myself and a network of over 60 other victims of Grant King have been able to prevent at least two other businesses from being ripped off by Grant King in the Helensville area, and in the absence of any meaningful sanction by the justice system, we will continue to monitor Grant King, and report any illegal acts committed by King to the appropriate authorities. In the meantime, I understand that the Department of Corrections is now investigating this matter, and that Grant King has been trespassed from Leaf Trust premises”.

“In the meantime, I am going to make a donation to the work of the Leaf Trust, and I would invite other people to do the same – the Trust is doing some wonderful work with some of societies most vulnerable people, and they don’t need scam artists like Grant King trying to take advantage of them” said Mr Taylor.

Ends

Other Contacts for this story:

Annais Allen (Leaf Trust): (027) 5115513

Peter Grace (Leaf Trust): (027) 5725884

David Grear (Department of Corrections): (09) 8378753 david.grear@corrections.govt.nz

Carol Ramage(Department of Corrections): (09) 8378753 carol.ramage@corrections.govt.nz

Rachel Cunnliffe (Helensville Community Facebook Moderator): (027) 3833746 rachel@cre8d-design.com

Grant King: (022) 018 9290