Reyes, who no longer works at the DHB, eventually confessed and told him she’d lost $18,000 of his money gambling.
The 33-year-old appeared in the Hamilton District Court recently, where she pleaded guilty to three charges of obtaining by deception, one of which was representative, after taking $112,000 from her colleagues.
Her counsel, Raewyn Sporle, asked Judge Noel Cocurullo not to enter convictions as she would be applying for a Section 106 discharge without conviction at her sentencing in October.
‘Can’t afford a burial plot’ for purportedly dead mother
Reyes, who is now on bail, unsuccessfully challenged a media request for a copy of court documents detailing her offending. A judge granted NZME permission to have them.
According to those documents, the first victim was made aware by her manager in early December 2023 that Reyes’ mother in the Philippines was sick and in hospital.
In March 2024, she was told Reyes’ mother had died. When she later saw Reyes and noticed she was crying they spoke.
Later that morning, the victim got a message from Reyes saying her mother had died, she had no money, and couldn’t afford a burial plot in the Philippines for her.
After speaking to her husband, the victim agreed to transfer $2000 to Reyes.
Around the end of the month, the second victim saw Reyes and noticed she seemed distracted, was always on her phone, and asked if she was all right.
Reyes said her mother in the Philippines was sick.
Over the next couple of weeks, Reyes said her mother had a heart attack, was hospitalised, then discharged, then later readmitted, and then died.
Another time, she said her father had been hospitalised with a “brain problem” and that it was “very serious”.
On April 11, the victim got a Facebook message from Reyes saying she was back home, her father was in hospital, and asking if she could borrow some money and that she would pay her back on payday.
When asked how much she needed, Reyes said $3000.
‘Tell your parents you’ve been scammed’
In January 2024, Reyes told the third victim her mother was in hospital and needed $10,000 for the cost of heart surgery.
She contacted him a week later saying her mother had a heart attack and she needed the money “immediately”, but it was now going to cost $90,000 for the surgery and hospital expenses.
She asked for $35,000.
At the time, the victim didn’t have the money directly, so he cashed in some investments and withdrew some savings totalling $36,000.
Reyes promised to pay him back by the end of the year.
On February 11, she advised her boss that her mother had died during surgery and told several other colleagues over the following days.
Immigration records revealed Reyes flew to Sydney overnight on February 23 to attend a Taylor Swift concert. During this time, she’d also falsely claimed two weeks of bereavement leave.
On March 9, Reyes contacted the victim again, saying she needed $1000 that day to pay the funeral director to have her mother’s body released, but said she needed it in e-vouchers, due to sending it to the Philippines.
She was back in touch again on May 6, saying her father now needed surgery and required $6000. The victim was only able to transfer $1000.
The victim inherited more than $60,000 from a deceased grandparent on May 10, and told Reyes he could loan her more money if required.
She asked for $40,000, which they agreed to transfer.
Three days later, Reyes asked for another $10,000 to travel home to see her sick father.
In July, she contacted the victim again, saying she was in the Philippines and had been hospitalised after trying to commit suicide and had incurred a debt of $30,000.
The victim didn’t have that much and instead transferred her $600 and gave her a $400 pay safe card.
He then cashed up more investments as he wanted to help her and put $18,000 in her account.
However, Immigration records showed she was in New York between June 16 and July 14 last year, and attended a Yankees baseball game and a Justin Timberlake concert.
On July 23, she called the victim and told him she owed lawyers $100,000 and if she didn’t pay it, her father would go to jail.
She also claimed to be suicidal again.
The victim said he didn’t have any money, but Reyes told him to tell his parents he had been scammed out of the money.
However, he declined to do that.
The next day, she video-called the victim and said she had flights booked back to New Zealand but couldn’t leave the country until she paid the $100,000.
She later told him she had lied about owing the $100,000, and had lost $18,000 gambling.
‘Mum and Dad are alive and well’
Reyes siphoned $107,200 from that victim alone due to the stories she had told him.
When questioned by police, Reyes said she had a “big gambling problem”.
She also admitted lying about her mother’s death, that her father was sick, and that she had attempted suicide so the victim would give her money.
Reyes also confirmed that her mother and father were “alive and well” in the Philippines.
Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for 10 years and has been a journalist for 21.