ACC fraudster jailed for $208k rip-off

A former Tauranga man who defrauded ACC of more than $200,000 over more than three years to buy homes for his two children has been jailed for three years.

Rocklin (Rocky) Stewart Cuthbert, 65, who earlier pleaded guilty to one charge of obtaining by deception and two charges of dishonestly using a document was sentenced in Tauranga District Court earlier today.

Between August 2007 and March 14, 2011 Cuthbert submitted numerous medical certificates from different doctors claiming $208,746.19 worth of ACC payments while he was working and making additional claims under an assumed name.

Judge Christopher Harding told Cuthbert that his long-standing premeditated fraud committed after holding a "misplaced sense of entitlement" warranted nothing less than a prison sentence.

The judge also ordered Cuthbert to pay $3000 reparation within 28 days, which is the amount of savings the prisoner has in his bank account.