Prolific Facebook scammer told he was lucky to get the sentence he did

A prolific Facebook scammer has lost his appeal against a jail sentence, with a judge indicating he was lucky to get the sentence he did.

Sean Chapman, 31, was jailed for 2½ years by Judge Russell Collins earlier this year after pleading guilty to a raft of dishonesty charges.

Chapman used Facebook marketplace to scam other users between July and September 2021. Using fake names, he contacted people who had placed ‘wanted to buy’ advertisements on the site and told them he had the items they were after.

After the buyers had made a full or partial deposit he would block them or stop replying to them. He’d also advertise items for sale himself then not supply them.

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Chapman obtained $19,822.40 through doing this.

He also pleaded guilty to trying to steal the same boat twice, without success in October 2021. That boat, valued at $27,000, couldn’t be stolen in the first attempt because it had a lock on its trailer. At the second attempt Chapman and an associate fled the scene after being confronted by a member of the public.

A few days later Chapman broke into a holiday home in Taupō and took a boat, valued at $28,500, which he drove to a friend’s house in Hamilton.

All of Chapman’s offending, including a couple of petrol drive offs, occurred while he was subject to conditions following his release from prison.

When Collins sentenced Chapman, he arrived at a sentence of 30 months in jail after considering “the seriousness and volume of the offending and the number of victims who have lost in a substantial way here”.

Chapman appealed his jail sentence because he felt it was excessive. He felt he should have had a 25% discount for his guilty plea, instead of the 20% per cent discount Judge Collins gave him.

While Collins gave Chapman a 20% discount due to his personal circumstances, Chapman felt he should have been given a further discount of 7% for his genuine remorse.

All up, Chapman said his sentence should be reduced to 24 months in prison, which would make him eligible for early release after serving half the sentence.

Police opposed the appeal and said the discounts Judge Collins gave Chapman had been generous.

In her recently released decision on the appeal, Justice Helen McQueen noted that a court was entitled to place little weight on expressions of remorse where there had been recidivist offending.

She noted that Chapman had a lengthy criminal history. Since November 2015 he had been convicted of 70 charges of accessing a computer with a dishonest purpose.

In February 2021 he was sentenced to ten months jail on 14 charges of accessing a computer for a dishonest purpose.

His latest offending occurred in July 2021 – the same month he was released from prison.

Justice McQueen said the facts cast doubt on Chapman’s claim he was genuinely remorseful.

She said Judge Collins had not erred, the sentence was not excessive and the appeal was dismissed.