A SCHIZOPHRENIC serial con artist and sex offender has been jailed after using a false name and claims of a family business worth $1.9 billion in a bid to con a teenager out of money and sex.
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Brenton Robert Jarrett, 46, has variously claimed to be Johnny Depp’s brother and agent, the grandson of film legend Alfred Hitchcock, actor Skeet Ulrich and a modeling agency owner.
The reality is the 46-year-old lives at his parent’s home in Howlong with an estimated wealth of $1200.
Much of his time is spent taking part in online fantasies.
His latest ploy saw him claim through dating site Seeking Arrangement that he was taking over his father’s business.
Claiming to be Brenton Gambini, he promised to give his young victim $100,000 from the $1.9 billion Gambini Family Trust fortune, and produced fake documents to show the cash had been transferred.
Jarrett met her in an Albury motel on October 14 and later in Wodonga.
He told her his account was frozen and he needed $500 to unlock it, with the promise of $1 million if she helped him out.
If the offer is too good to believe, it’s probably not true
- Magistrate Tony Murray
No cash was exchanged and the scam was reported to police on October 27, with Jarrett arrested in Howlong the following day.
He freely admitted to police he had been running the ploy to have sex with the girl and had contacted 10 other females in the month prior.
He was charged in August with running the same scam on a woman in Geelong and is on bail for charges of procuring intercourse by fraud and obtaining financial gain by deception.
Magistrate Tony Murray told Albury Local Court an old adage sprang to mind.
“If the offer is too good to believe, it’s probably not true,” he said.
But he noted the victim was very young and the offence had been planned out by the 46-year-old.
Lawyer Sascha McCorriston said Jarrett had “very significant mental health issues” and was recently diagnosed with schizophrenia.
His parents were concerned by his behaviour when he started to fear a television set and heard voices coming out of the device.
The 46-year-old at times sat through the hearings with his mouth gabbed open, staring forward and licking his lips.
Mr Murray jailed him for 12 months, with a non-parole period of five months.
Jarrett, who has 85 offences on his criminal record, is banned from contacting the victim in any way.
