Teen Faces 19 Counts
Newcastle Herald
Thursday August 21, 2008
A TEENAGER alleged to have defrauded a Cooks Hill dealership of an $80,000 Audi appeared in Newcastle Local Court yesterday charged with a further 19 offences.
These include allegations that he fraudulently obtained more than $220,000 worth of air travel and accommodation between January and July this year, using fraudulently obtained credit cards.Miles Mehta, 18, of St Ives Chase, in Sydney's north, faces a string of deception charges, including that he defrauded two dealerships of luxury cars. He is alleged to have defrauded the Cooks Hill dealership on March 19 and a Chatswood dealership of a Lexus IS200 on his 18th birthday in January. Yesterday, charge sheets before the court alleged that Mehta dishonestly obtained a total of almost $25,000 over nine occasions in June, using a fraudulently obtained Eftpos machine to refund money. They also allege he used fraudulently obtained credit cards to spend about $220,000 on travel, accommodation and holidays.On top of this, he allegedly spent $HK18,797, $US17,819 and #3667 on air travel and others services, using fraudulent credit cards. A police statement before the court said Mehta had been travelling first class regularly between Australia and Singapore, Thailand and Dubai. John Mulder, for Mehta, said yesterday there with issues with Mehta's mental health status, and that he was under the care of a psychiatrist.He said he would probably be in a position to enter pleas at his next court appearance.Mehta was granted strict bail at his last court appearance, which requires him to live with his businessman father and not leave NSW. The matters were adjourned to October 7.
© 2008 Newcastle Herald
