"Mafia" Man jailed for Fraud

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/8251317/mafia-man-jailed-for-fraud

A "parasite" who pretended he was in the mafia and scammed $155,000 from three women and a relative has been jailed for eight years.

Brisbane District Court Judge Leanne Clare told George Kenneth Hopes he had committed the "ultimate betrayal" of his four victims, some of whom were financially ruined by his deceit.

"You wooed the women and you conned the gentleman," she said on Thursday.

"You gained their trust with a web of lies so that you could cheat and steal from them.

"Throughout the whole period of offending you behaved as a master manipulator and a parasite."

The court was told Hopes was carrying on simultaneous relationships with his three female victims between 2000 and 2005, while at the same time telling his then-wife and four children he had to spend time away from home to work interstate.

The 39-year-old Buderim man led the women to believe he was in the mafia, and asked one for a loan so he could pay protection money.

He convinced another woman to sell her house and give him the proceeds, promising he would use the money to set them up in a new life in Western Australia.

He used the money he took from each of the women to maintain his relationships with the others.

Hopes also took $33,000 from the father of his current wife, telling him he needed it to pay a bogus fine for a drug conviction.

The court was told Hopes also used his story as a mafia man to terrorise and exert control over his victims.

Prosecutor Dennis Kinsella said Hopes drove two of the women to state forests and threatened them with a loaded gun, which police later discovered did not work.

He forced one woman to put the gun to her head and pull the trigger, then threatened to kill her himself.

He told the other woman he would kill himself if she didn't reveal who she had told about his mafia ties.

The court was told the women were still recovering from their ordeal.

"Your crimes were cruel and callous," Judge Clare said.

"You exploited their care for you.

"Yours was the ultimate betrayal of trust and one that is likely to leave lifelong scars on the people hurt by you."

Hopes pleaded guilty to 11 charges, including threatening violence and fraud.

He was sentenced to a total of eight years' jail but will be eligible for parole in June next year.

He has already served 10 months behind bars.