Updated Tuesday, June 6: A Casino man who allegedly applied for fraudulent credit cards using ‘fictitious aliases’ and altered doctors prescriptions for the schedule 8 drug oxycodone has been ordered to undergo a mental health assessment.
Joel Edmund Cahill appeared in Lismore Local Court on Monday facing 26 charges relating to alleged fraudulent credit card applications, fake invoices, forged prescriptions and identification for two aliases he allegedly used to try to obtain financial advantage.
The 33 year-old was represented by solicitor Philip Crick.
It is alleged Mr Cahill’s spree of attempted fraud began on March 3, at Casino, when he applied for a NAB credit card claiming to be Mike Drechsler ‘that was false or misleading with the intention of obtaining a financial advantage.
Eight weeks later, police allege Mr Cahill come into possession of doctors prescriptions and ‘forged or fraudulently altered a prescription of a medical practitioner that included Oxycontin 80mg tablets,’ which contain the schedule 8 drug Oxycodone.’
Then on June 1, police allege Mr Cahill used the alias of Nicholas Rex Cayford when he applied for credit cards at the Casino branches of both the Commonwealth Bank and Westpac.
The following day, after Mr Cahill allegedly applied for a Westpac bank credit card under the alias of Mike Drechsler, he was arrested.
Mr Cahill was taken to Casino police station where he was charged with 13 counts of forging or fraudulent altering a prescription including a prohibited drug, and four counts of publishing false misleading material to obtain financial advantage or cause disadvantage.
When he was arrested, police seized a NSW drivers licences in the names of Nicholas Rex Cayford and Mike Jayson Drechsler, a Queensland drivers licence in the name of Mike Drechsler, a Victorian birth certificate for Mike Drechsler and three false invoices from IL&P.
As a result Mr Cahill was also charged with six counts of possessing identification information with the intention of facilitating the commission of an indictable offence, fraud, and three counts of possessing a false document to obtain financial advantage or cause disadvantage.
It is also alleged Mr Cahill used the licences to create accounts to obtain free electricity.
Mr Cahill was refused bail by police, who noted that he was wanted in Queensland for failing to appear in court and that he ‘obtained identification to create fictitious aliases.’
Mr Cahill was again refused bail at Lismore Local Court on Saturday due to his extensive criminal history in Queensland for dishonesty offences, and the risk he would flee the area as he had no strong ties to Casino.
On Monday, after an application by Mr Crick, Magistrate Peter Bugden elected to deal with Mr Cahill under section 33 of the Mental Health Act, which gives the magistrate the power to order a person they accept is mentally ill to be assessed, detained and treated in a mental health facility.
Mr Cahill was ordered ‘to be taken by police to Lismore Base Hospital for assessment and if not found to be mentally disordered to be brought back to court.’
Original report: A 33-year-old Casino man has been arrested for a complex series of frauds using illegally obtained ID in various false names.
Police allege that in 2016 the man obtained a number of fraudulent NSW and Queensland driver’s licenses that he used to create accounts to receive free electricity, create fake invoices and apply for credit cards in false names.
But the man’s spree ended on Friday, June 2, when he went to a bank in Casino apply for yet another credit card using a fake licence.
Police attended the bank and placed him under arrest.
During a search of the man they located three fake licenses, a fraudulently obtained debit card and three fake invoices.
Police then executed a search warrant at his home where they found a fake birth certificate, fake licenses, credit card applications made with fake names and 21 fake prescriptions for a Schedule 1 drug,
The man has been charged with publishing false misleading material to obtain advantage, possessing identity information to commit an indictable offence and forging prescriptions.
He was bail refused by police and will appear in Lismore Local Court today (Monday, June 5).
