Sydney bikini model scam at Hilton Hotel

Stevie Bamford, the daughter of former rugby league international Peter Tunks, appeared at Sydney Downing Central Court on Thursday to hear her fate after pleading guilty to a fraud charge in April.

The 30-year-old was charged after using another woman’s credit card to pay for a stay at the luxury Hilton hotel on George St in Sydney last year.

She checked into the hotel on the evening of September 13 after making an online reservation under the name “Teee Parkinson” to stay for three days, paying the $1,544 bill with someone else’s credit card. woman.

Court documents reveal that Bamford only stayed one night, during which she used the hotel’s facilities and showed her room to several guests for ‘several durations’.

His stay was cut short when the owner of the credit card informed the hotel manager that the payment was unauthorized and fraudulent.

The money was returned to the credit card owner, but Bamford was unable to pay for the stay.

When asked how she paid for the hotel room, the Malabar resident claimed an acquaintance had booked the stay and gifted it to her when they were unable to use it.

She could not explain why her acquaintance offered her a free stay in a luxury hotel, according to the facts of the police.

The bikini model kept her glam image in court on Thursday, complete with silver eyeshadow and wearing a hot pink dress with pearl-encrusted kitten heels.

Bamford’s lawyer, Jack Dunn, told the court his client’s fraud was an opportunistic crime.

“It was impulsive or isolated behavior. It lacked sophistication,” he said.

Mr Dunn said the Bamford fraud consisted of a single transaction which ultimately did not affect the victim, who suffered “no loss”.

The court was told that Bamford had “substantial substance abuse and mental health factors”, including symptoms of depression and a diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder.

Mr Dunn told the court that his client “had been hospitalized on several occasions for drug addiction”. Court documents show she was also admitted to a mental health facility earlier this year.

“She may not have been aware of the consequences of her actions due to her mental health,” Mr Dunn told the court.

Since she committed the luxury fraud, the court was told that Bamford had complied with her medication and treatment. His lawyer said Bamford had accepted responsibility for his actions.

“The offender is not a violent person. He is someone who needs a lot of rehabilitation and support,” he said.

The court heard that two community correction orders were breached when she defrauded the lavish Sydney hotel. One was an aggravated break and enter into an apartment in Eastlakes the previous year.

In March 2021, Bamford admitted to entering the unit with two men and a woman in 2020, stealing up to $600 in merchandise, including a silver watch, a water pipe and a CCTV camera.

Court documents revealed she had been charged in NSW nine times since 2011, including assaulting a police officer and driving with ice and cocaine in her system.

Magistrate Juliana Crofts said “the court has a vested interest in ensuring its orders are followed”, but noted that Bamford’s mental health was a mitigating factor.

Ms Crofts said she was ‘reassured’ by Bamford’s positive sentencing report and ‘positive outlook for rehabilitation’.

She convicted the 30-year-old woman and sentenced her to a one-year supervised community correction order.

Ms Crofts also ordered Bamford to comply with its community treatment order and continue to engage with rehabilitation and support services.

The sentencing comes nearly a decade after Bamford made international headlines aged just 21 for falsely claiming she was raped by a tuktuk driver in Thailand.

She told Thai police she was on her way home from a night out with her boyfriend when the driver took her to a secluded location and raped her while she was being held.

The bikini-clad model admitted to lying to police because she didn’t want her boyfriend to be mad at her for coming home late. She was convicted of making a false statement in Phuket Provincial Court and sentenced to 15 days in a Thai detention center.