Tracey Lazar: Albany bank worker who stole more than $5000 from her colleagues receives community-based order

An Albany bank worker who used a work lotto syndicate account for her personal use and stole over $5000 from her colleagues for more than two years has received a 12-month community-based order. Tracey Lazar, 46, appeared in Albany Magistrates Court last Thursday and pleaded guilty to one charge of stealing. Police prosecutor Sgt Matt Hartfield told the court Lazar stole a total of $5569.36 from a staff lottery syndicate account she was the signatory of while working at NAB Albany. The bank’s employees paid $4 a fortnight into the account, for which Lazar had possession of a bank card to purchase lottery tickets for the staff every fortnight. Lazar was supposed to be buying lottery tickets but instead, between January 18, 2020, and October 31, 2022, Lazar used the card to make 18 purchases costing $649.36 in total, and made 42 cash withdrawals to a total of $4920 at locations across Albany, Busselton and Perth. Sgt Hartfield told the court following her arrest Lazar admitted to police she had been using the bank card personally and said “it was a stupid thing to do”. According to Lazar’s Linkedin account, she had been working for NAB since July 1999 and was working in the role of small business banking manager when she committed the stealing offences. Defence lawyer Lucy Bourne told the court at the time of the offending Lazar “didn’t think through the consequences” of her actions and had intended to pay the money back. Ms Bourne said Lazar had apologised to some of her former colleagues. The lawyer told the court Lazar suffered a “work-related trauma” several years ago which affected her mental health and felt she “didn’t have adequate support” from her employer in the following years. The court was told Lazar had sought help from her GP and Palmerston Association after she was charged. Ms Bourne said Lazar did not have a criminal record and attributed the offending to “impulsive behaviour”. She said Lazar had “found the court process awful”. Magistrate Dianne Scaddan said Lazar’s stealing demonstrated a “course of conduct over a period of time” and was serious because of the amount of money she had stolen, the repeated nature of the offences and the fact her employment placed her in a position of trust. “You’ve let your work colleagues down, you’ve let yourself down,” Ms Scaddan said. The magistrate said she understood why Lazar and her husband had not felt supported by her work following the work incident that had affected her mental health, but said Lazar had waited “until crisis point to get help”. She was sentenced to a 12-month community-based order and ordered to repay the stolen money. Ms Bourne made an application for a spent conviction, but it was refused by Ms Scaddan.