A real estate agent who befriended an elderly client and stole nearly $100,000 to finance a lavish lifestyle of high-end fashion, beauty treatments, electronics and meals met her fate just weeks after welcoming his second son.
Pregnant mother-of-one Hayley Philpot, 29, was sentenced to three months in jail this week after pleading guilty to robbery.
Shocking details about the robberies, which financed dozens of elaborate purchases and left their victim struggling to make ends meet, were revealed in Melbourne Magistrates Court.
Philpot was working as an agent at Savoy Real Estate Yarra Glen in 2019 when he met his victim, 80, who wanted to sell her house.
The court heard Philpot helped with the sale and then helped the woman and her husband move into a nursing home, reports the Lilydale and Yarra Valley Leader.
Former estate agent Hayley Philpot was sentenced just weeks before giving birth to her second child.
Philpot was given a power of attorney and then it was erased. $98,844 from the woman’s bank account over a 15-month period through August 2021.
The court heard that Philpot squandered the stolen funds on a wide range of purchases ranging from a Apple iPhone and a MacBook, beauty and hair treatments and Deliveroo orders, to Uber rides, car repairs, meals out, cinema tickets and pet accessories.
The stolen proceeds also funded expenditures at JB Hi-Fi, Kmart, Bunnings, Kookai, Zara, restaurants and bottle shops.
The victim eventually discovered that money was missing from her account and hired a lawyer.
The thefts were then reported to the police, resulting in Philpot’s arrest in February 2022.
The court heard Philpot claimed he took the money because his brother needed $40,000 to pay off a “biker gang debt”.
Prosecutors told the court Philpot took advantage of the vulnerability of his elderly victim, who had no family support and was supporting her elderly husband with dementia.
“This is the most egregious violation of the [power of attorney] disposition,” the prosecution presented.
‘Trust was a critical element…the victim, she will not recover financially from this…our community needs to be able to trust our legal system.’
The court heard how Melbourne mother Hayley Philpot (pictured) stole almost $100,000 from an elderly client’s bank account.
Magistrate David Starvaggi described the thefts as “one of the most serious examples of breach of trust”.
Philpot was ordered to repay more than $60,000 he still owned, in addition to the three-month jail sentence.
He left Savoy Real Estate Yarra Glen in 2020 and has since worked for a number of other estate agencies.
Philpot describes herself on LinkedIn as an experienced sales agent with a demonstrated history of working in the real estate industry.
She lists her current role as an independent buyer advocate “in and around Melbourne, from luxury homes to standard properties”.
Hayley Philpot was ordered to serve a three-month jail term and pay back the stolen proceeds.