Former Logan City councillor Stacey Lee McIntosh has been jailed for at least one year after ripping off her former employer of more than $180,000.

December 9, 2019

A sacked Queensland councillor used money she ripped off her employer to fund her election campaign but got busted when she resigned to take up the seat she’d just won, a court has heard.

Former Logan City councillor Stacey Lee McIntosh, 37, pleaded guilty in the Brisbane District Court to three counts of fraud between 2014 and 2016.

She was sentenced on Monday to three years and two months prison suspended after 12 months, with Judge Tony Moynihan QC saying the money was used to fund a lifestyle McIntosh “couldn’t otherwise afford”.

McIntosh siphoned $180,646.09 from heavy vehicle repairer Fortuna Engineering Works in a three-way fraud, prosecutor Mel Wilson told the court 

“It was brazen, it was systematic and it was persistent,” she said.

McIntosh had customers pay invoices worth more than $169,822.15 directly in her personal bank account.

The money was used to pay living expenses, credit cards and loans.

“Nine per cent of the money was used for her election fund as a Logan City councillor,” Ms Wilson said.

McIntosh obtained a further $10,969.19 by directing bank refunds and money from her employer’s bank account to her own.

“The fraud came to light in April 2016 … when she resigned because she was elected to the Logan City Council,” Ms Wilson said. 

McIntosh stood down from the council after being charged in December 2016.

She was formally suspended in May 2018 under new state laws to stand down allegedly corrupt elected officials.

The Queensland government sacked the rest of the Logan City councillors in May 2019 after an investigation by the Crime and Corruption Commission.