A pregnant Michelle Ruby Ethel Harvey (28) stood in the dock with her head down as she was sentenced by Judge Michael Crosbie in the Dunedin District Court to 13 months' home detention.
In August, she admitted indictably laid charges of, between July 21 last year and June 16 this year, stealing literature and beauty products, with a retail value of $48,430.22 "the property of persons unknown" and directly accessing her computer to dishonestly obtain $35,539.50 by listing the stolen items online and running 1718 auctions.
She used a Trade Me account with the user name adele.john, which she set up using a false name and address.
She also admitted six theft charges relating to 26 books stolen from The Warehouse, South Dunedin, on June 13, 14, 18, 20, 21 and 22 and one charge of stealing an aromatherapy set from Farmers Trading Co on June 15.
Crown counsel Richard Smith said the case was unusual in its extent and premeditation and was aggravated by the amount of money lost - about $48,000 worth of the stolen goods had not been itemised.
A sentence of home detention would not be appropriate because of the extent of the offending and the need to deter others, he said, and suggested a starting point of three and a-half years' prison.
Harvey's counsel, Anne Stevens, said Harvey had done "extremely well" in her career with the Fire Service, from which she resigned in August.
"She is very sad that through her own actions she has brought an end to her own career."
She said Harvey was working very hard at the time of her offending as she and her partner struggled under financial pressure.
She had never offended before, and was having psychological treatment to deal with her issues.
Judge Crosbie said he accepted from Mrs Steven's submissions that Harvey had had an "absolutely massive" fall from grace.
Before the offending she was regarded as an otherwise decent person, who had worked her way up through the firefighting ranks and had been involved with working with young offenders, he said.
"And those matters are very much to your credit."
He noted she had voluntarily attended sessions with a psychologist for a depressive episode and anxiety and had been open, forthcoming and participated in the process, demonstrated genuine remorse and determination to change her behaviour and was committed to continuing that process.
"The big issue... is why?
"Like so many people who come to court, something is beneath all this. Unfortunately, some of that happens to be untapped."
Her offending was unusual, not because of the crime, but because of the type of person who committed it, and the scale of it, he said.
People put their faith in online auctions and assumed the goods they were buying were legally obtained by the seller. Many would be concerned and disappointed to find they had bought stolen goods.
As the matter was greater in scale and more serious than previous similar cases, the starting point had to be significantly higher, he said.
From a starting point of three and a-half years in prison, he reduced it for her early guilty plea, lack of previous convictions, her remorse and further for her psychological state and her pregnancy, to a sentence of 12 months' home detention on the two more serious charges and a further month for the six less serious theft charges.
Conditions of the sentence were that Harvey continue treatment for her psychological issues and not be allowed access to a computer or any device that could connect to the internet.
She was ordered to pay reparation of $1274.75, the value of the stolen items that were able to be itemised. She paid the sum yesterday.
