She Lied on Her Resume, Lost More Than Her Job

She got the government job, and then a jail sentence. Veronica Hilda Theriault of Australia will spend the next year in jail after lying on the resume she submitted to land the role of chief information officer in South Australia's Department of the Premier and Cabinet in 2017, reports CNN. The 46-year-old worked in the role for more than a month, earning $22,500 of what was to be an $185,000 annual salary, before she was fired and charged with deception, dishonesty, and abuse of public office. In district court on Tuesday, Judge Michael Boylan said she'd lied about her education and work history and given "glowing feedback" while posing as a reference for herself. Her brother—awarded a government contract earning him more than $15,000 during Theriault's employment, per PerthNow—had also supplied a false reference for his sister.

"You arranged that your brother would supply a reference to the department in which he said he worked for you when you were employed at [hotel reservation website] Wotif," Boylan told Theriault, per ABC Australia. But "neither you nor your brother had ever worked at Wotif." Once Theriault had secured the job, Boylan said she supplied "a falsified pay slip ... to negotiate a higher salary." Later, the woman who used a photo of Kate Upton on her LinkedIn profile would supply a self-written doctor's note claiming she was fit for work. Boylan said he considered Theriault's bipolar disorder in ordering a 25-month sentence, with at least 12 months to be served before parole. Still, he described the crimes as "serious," noting Theriault "may have had access to sensitive material." (A woman with no training worked as a nurse for 20 years.)