Shenaya Annie Tucker: Albany woman gets more jail after car chase and hundreds spent in counterfeit bills

An Albany woman who used hundreds of dollars in counterfeit bills at Great Southern businesses and led police on a suburban car chase in a stolen vehicle in Perth has received additional jail time. Shenaya Annie Tucker, 27, appeared in Albany Magistrates Court via video link from Melaleuca Prison on Tuesday to be sentenced on 21 charges, including knowingly uttering counterfeit money, possessing prohibited drugs, stealing a motor vehicle, and reckless driving to escape police pursuit. Police prosecutor Sgt Dylan Fisher told the court the spate of offending began in December 2024 when Tucker tried to avoid a traffic stop in Mt Barker. When she stopped her car down a dirt road, police found Tucker to be driving even though her license was suspended. They searched her car and found 0.1g of methamphetamine and 2g of cannabis. She was charged with seven counts of knowingly uttering counterfeit money in Yakamia, Albany and Mt Barker, when she used fraudulent $100 bills to pay for multiple purchases over a 10-day period, including alcohol, fuel, food, cigarettes and scratch-off lottery tickets. Sgt Fisher said Tucker was challenged by staff members at multiple businesses when they realised the cash was fake, and all seven offences were caught on CCTV cameras. In March, Tucker travelled to Perth and stole a Holden Astra from a house where she was staying in Armadale, waiting until the owner fell asleep to steal her keys. This car was not licensed to be driven on the road, and Tucker fixed stolen and fraudulently altered registration plates to the vehicle after she drove it away in an attempt to escape police attention. However, police found her on March 26 at the Ocean Reef Marina and attempted to pull her over. When Tucker didn’t stop the car, police officers cornered her in a dead-end street and got out of their vehicle to attempt to speak to her, but she drove the car at speed straight at an officer, forcing him to leap out of the way to avoid getting hit. Police followed Tucker through the suburb, attempting to stop her car multiple times until she fled the car on foot and was arrested less than one minute after leaving the vehicle. Police discovered a can of capsicum spray in the driver’s seat, as well as multiple forged license plates in the back of the car. Sgt Fisher said all Tucker’s courses of behaviour showed repeated patterns of dangerous behaviour, and she was lucky none of the officers dealing with her in Ocean Reef had been injured by her reckless choices behind the wheel. Magistrate Erin O’Donnell agreed, saying the officer who had to jump out of the way of Tucker’s car was “extremely fortunate” to have escaped without injury. She sentenced Tucker to eight months imprisonment, which will be cumulative on an existing jail term Tucker received in the Albany District Court on October 27, giving her a total of two years and 10 months behind bars. She was also fined a total of $3550 and had her driver’s license disqualified permanently.