Senior WA shire worker charged for fraud, corruption, stealing and perjury
Sam Curulli leaving Perth Magistrates Court. (ABC News: David Weber)
In short:
A 27-year-old man has appeared in court on fraud, corruption and stealing charges while he was employed by a regional WA shire.
Sam Anthony Curulli was a senior public officer with the Shire of Coorow when the alleged incidents occurred.
What's next?
Mr Curulli's case has been adjourned to April 23.
A senior shire worker in Western Australia's Mid West has faced court over alleged fraudulent offences.
Police allege Sam Anthony Curulli attempted to gain benefit by fraud and acted corruptly while employed for the Shire of Coorow, about 260 kilometres north of Perth.
The 27-year-old man is alleged to have attempted to obtain approximately $17,385 by deceitfully purporting to be a different employee.
Sam Curulli has worked at multiple local governments in WA. (Supplied: Linkedin)
The Perth Magistrates Court heard he was also charged with two counts of acting corruptly as a public officer between February and October last year, which included allegedly misappropriating expense account funds to purchase items that he then sold for his own gain, worth more than $8,500.
He also faced two counts of stealing shire property, namely electronic devices worth about $3,000, the day after his employment was terminated.
In addition, he is charged with one count of perjury, which police allege was done by unlawfully accessing social media and email accounts to send himself false messages, which were utilised to obtain a court order.
Shire refers discovery to police
In December, the Shire of Coorow said in a public statement it was aware of "false or fabricated" text messages that were published anonymously online.
Shire president Guy Sims said the shire referred it to WA police.
Guy Sims says the comments were referred to police. (ABC News: Piper Duffy)
On Wednesday, Mr Sims said the shire was aware of Mr Curulli's charges, but he would not comment further as the matter was before the courts.
Mr Curulli is the deputy chief executive officer for the Shire of Cuballing, about 185 kilometres south-east of Perth, and previously held governance roles in three other local governments within WA.
Shire of Cuballing chief executive Chris Paget told the ABC Mr Curulli had only just started in the role three day ago, on March 16, and that "appropriate actions" were being taken.
"Because this matter is before the court we are unable to make any comment around it," he said.
"We only became aware of this through media reports this morning."
The court heard Mr Curulli was arrested on March 11 in North Fremantle after a police search warrant allegedly uncovered MDMA and stolen property at his residence.
He has been released on bail with his next court date set for April 23.