October 5th, 2024No jail term for man who scammed grieving Clunes family

A man who scammed the grieving family of Clunes woman Hannah McGuire out of many thousands of dollars in community GoFundMe donations following her alleged murder has avoided a jail term after appearing before the Ballarat Magistrate’s Court earlier this week.

Appearing before the court last Tuesday after pleading guilty to theft, Lachlan Morganti, 26, has been placed on a two-year community corrections order.

The court has heard that Morganti had been heavily drinking on the night he transferred more than $64,000 into his bank account from an online GoFundMe fundraiser that he had established following the alleged murder of Ms McGuire on April 5.

Morganti knew the family through the Clunes cricket and football clubs, and from Clunes’ local pub, the National Hotel, which Ms McGuire’s family runs, and he had established the GoFundMe fundraiser in order to help her grief-stricken family with funeral expenses and paying for a holiday.

The court at Ballarat has heard Morganti was afflicted by a severe gambling addiction when he took the GoFundMe money – having previous taken $10,000 from his own superannuation in a bid to fund his addiction.

After all the money was spent, the 26-year-old had confessed to Ms McGuire’s family who had reported him to the police.

Now left to serve out his community corrections order, Morganti had since registered with Bet Stop, a national gambling self-exclusion register, the court in Ballarat has heard.