Samantha Cookes, also known as ‘Carrie Jade Williams’, has been charged with over 200 fraudulent welfare payments made over four years.
The 36-year-old appeared in Tralee District Court today, charged with defrauding the Department of Social Protection out of almost €60,000.
For the past 18 months, Ms Cookes has been living at an address in Tralee under the name Jade O’Sullivan.
The woman is suspected to have collected 238 fraudulent welfare payments over a four-year period.
She initially submitted a claim for Supplementary Welfare Allowance in February 2020 on the basis that she had Huntington’s Disease.
In September 2021, Ms Cookes submitted a disability allowance claim which was signed by a doctor.
During the investigation, Gardaí discovered that the accused had told her doctor that she was adopted and therefore couldn’t prove that she was previously diagnosed with Huntington’s.
The doctor then signed her application for welfare in good faith.
'Carrie Jade' scams
Garda Raphael Liston told Judge David Waters that Ms Cookes has a history of using multiple aliases to hide her identity.
She is most known for her alias Carrie Jade Williams, which was recently the subject of an RTÉ documentary.
She has also used the aliases Lucy Williams and Rebecca Fitzgerald as part of her fraud.
The court heard Ms Cookes caused financial and emotional damage to members of the community.
Mr Liston said her motives are not clear as she does not always financially benefit from them.
He added that he believes she is a flight risk as she is a UK citizen, has not forfeited her passport and has no family ties to Ireland.
Arrest
Gardaí had tried to make an arrangement with Ms Cookes to question her before her arrest on Friday.
Despite that, they were forced to lie in wait at Tralee Post Office on a day when she was collecting her benefits as she failed to respond to them.
Mr Waters refused bail as he said he was not satisfied that any bail conditions would prevent Ms Cookes from trying to avoid the court system.
Ms Cookes was granted legal aid and is due to appear before Tralee District Court again on Wednesday via video link.
