A former charitable trust employee who stole more than $1 million intended for social services for children in Porirua has been sentenced to three and a half years in prison.
Iesha Warren pleaded guilty to one representative charge of obtaining by deception and one charge of failing to appear in March 2025 and was sentenced in the Wellington District Court.
The case was brought by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO).
The failing to appear charge related to Warren not appearing in court when required to do so in August 2023.
Warren was employed between 2019 and June 2021 by Te Roopu Awhina Ki Porirua Trust, which works with whānau across Porirua to offer social services including care and protection programmes for children.
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She began as a part-time financial administrator but took on more financial responsibility over time, eventually becoming the primary access point for all the trust’s financial systems.
During Warren’s employment, she directed $1.06 million into bank accounts she controlled using multiple methods.
These included substituting her bank account in place of genuine suppliers’ bank accounts when making payments, transferring funds directly from the trust to bank accounts she controlled and using trust debit cards for personal use, mostly online gambling.
Warren was able to hide these transactions in accounting records by recording them as genuine expenses.
SFO director Karen Chang said Warren’s offending targeted public funding intended to support children.
“This type of offending can lead to those communities missing out on essential services and erode trust in community leaders and institutions.”
The case was a reminder that trust, while important in the workplace, did not replace “robust internal controls”, Chang said.
“When financial functions lack proper oversight and checks, they create opportunities for serious misconduct. Every organisation, public or private, should ensure their finance functions have strong internal controls that protect against fraud.”
