Former AFL footballer Nick Stevens has been jailed for nine months for defrauding six families through an unlicensed pool installation business in 2017.
The 46-year-old, who played 231 games for Carlton and Port Adelaide, was found guilty in March of dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception.
He took payments for pools from home owners in the Mildura region in 2017 without holding a builder’s registration, permits, or proper insurance.
Victims were left with improperly installed pools or unfinished holes in their backyards.
In sentencing, County Court judge Fiona Todd told Stevens he exploited his victims’ trust and good nature.
“They asked to see the documentation, you gave them false reassurance,” she told the court.
“You exploited the kind of small-city trust that binds a regional community. Everyone took you at your word, they did not insist on paperwork early on, and you exploited that goodwill.
“What you did had a corrosive effect on the currency of goodwill and trust [that] does so much good in the community, especially in a small one.”
Nick Stevens has been sentenced in court after being found guilty of fraud and deception. (AAP: David Crosling)
A pre-sentencing hearing was told Stevens’s offending resulted in a marriage breakdown for one of the families involved, and that other victims had been left financially crippled.
He spent 78 days in pre-sentence detention at Hopkins Correctional Centre in Ararat where he was isolated for 23 hours a day for his protection, due to his notoriety as a former footballer.
The court heard Stevens had previously spent six months in jail for domestic violence offences in 2015.
Stevens, who played 231 AFL games before retiring in 2009, was also convicted of using a false document.
Pools found non-compliant
Stevens became a distributor for Leisure Pools Australia in Mildura in 2017, having previously installed legally compliant pools under the supervision of a registered builder.
He then went out on his own without the required licence, registration, permits or insurance.
Six families paid him more than $167,000 between March and October that year.
It came despite Mildura Rural City Council issuing a stop work order in May after the first victim’s pool, which was not connected to a pump or water, was found to not be legally compliant.
Stevens continued to accept payments from other victims in June, August, September and October.
Nick Stevens played more than 200 games of AFL football for Carlton and Port Adelaide. (ABC News: Daniel Miles)
He never lodged a permit application for the pools, or sought a building contract, insurance or oversight from a registered builder.
Stevens’s lawyers had previously argued for a community corrections order, noting his client had not gambled the money away, and was a vulnerable prisoner.
However, Crown prosecutors said Stevens had demonstrated no remorse since court proceedings began in 2021 and that prison time was warranted.
Judge Todd said Stevens’s culpability rose as time went on.
She considered the repeated nature of the conduct, the amount of money obtained, the consequences for the victims and the enduring period over which the offending unfolded.
She also considered the lengthy delay of the case, and described Stevens’s prospects of rehabilitation as “decent”.
Stevens will be released from custody in late December and begin a two-year community corrections order.
It includes judicial monitoring and orders to carry out 120 hours of unpaid community work and not leave Victoria without permission.
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