Australia's 'Catch Me If You Can' thief pleads guilty

An Australian woman who posed as a businesswoman, a doctor and a mobster’s niece to steal thousands of dollars, and evaded police for months, today pleaded guilty Friday to about 40 charges of fraud and theft.

Dubbed the “Catch Me If You Can” thief by police, Jody Harris, 28, was arrested in July after an intense search spanning three states.

She was eventually charged with around 130 counts relating to identity fraud and theft.

Sydney police said Harris fooled her alleged victims into believing she was a doctor, a businesswoman and the niece of a known underworld figure before stealing their identities and robbing them.

Harris eluded arrest for more than a year, frequently changing her appearance and taunting police with repeated phone calls and false promises to surrender.

Officers in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland states eventually nicknamed her after the 2002 film in which Leonardo DiCaprio stars as a smooth-talking con-man who robs his unwitting victims by pretending to be a doctor, a lawyer and an airline pilot.