Brisbane man convicted by publishing account of boat loss after $60,000 fraudulent claim
An Australian newspaper has dubbed Lex Adams the country’s dumbest criminal after he fraudulently claimed his boat was washed away in floods, and then wrote a magazine article detailing how he had in fact crashed it onto a sandbar.
Adams claimed almost $60,000 in crisis money after floods in 2011. He then wrote a detailed article for boating magazine Cruising Helmsman, explaining how he had ran his uninsured boat into a sandbar off Townsville.
He pled guilty to two charges yesterday and was sentenced to three and half years imprisonment.
"He really had no idea what to do and bemoaned the fact he couldn't get any assistance and so five months later he seized an opportunity," the court was told.
He received cheques for crisis assistance in the amounts of $170, $1285 and $57,000 from a federal and state government disaster fund for victims of the flood and tropical cyclone Yasi in north Queensland.
His article in the boating magazine was headlined "'The day my life changed forever' - battler loses everything to sandbar".
Adams bought a replacement boat, which he named the Travesty.