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Vic: Single mum avoids jail after pleading on surgery scam

18 Nov 2008 11:53 AM

MELBOURNE, Nov 18 AAP - A single mum who claimed she was critically ill in order to extort thousands of dollars for cosmetic surgery from a man shemet on the internet has walked free from court.

Jaimi Carlin, 30, was sentenced to 20 months' jail wholly suspended for twoyears in the Victorian County Court.

The court heard Carlin falsely told a married man she met on the internet she had ovarian cancer and severe diabetes and needed money for an insulin pump implant.

She spent the18,000 the man deposited into her bank account on cosmetic surgery in March last year.

When the man asked her to have an affair, she asked him to deposit50,000 into her account or she would tell his wife.

Judge Barbara Cotterell said Carlin, who suffered depression and anxiety, had realised the gravity of her offences.

She also took into account Carlin's eight-year-old daughter would be without a carer if her mother was jailed.

Carlin pleaded guilty to one count of obtain property by deception and oncecount of blackmail.

AAP migfrjlw=0A