The Aporia · Former shire deputy continued offending after March arrest, police allege

Former shire deputy continued offending after March arrest, police allege

Read the original at The Sydney Morning Herald ↗

Cite

APA MLA Chicago

Peppiatt, R. (2026, September 26). Former shire deputy continued offending after March arrest, police allege. The Sydney Morning Herald. https://www.smh.com.au/national/western-australia/former-shire-deputy-continued-offending-after-march-arrest-police-allege-20260926-p610p1.html?ref=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss_feed

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

Quick Summary

Former deputy CEO Sam Curulli, 27, has been charged with additional offenses including drug possession and fraud after his March arrest for similar crimes committed while working at the Mid West council. Police allege that he committed 46 further offences between his initial arrest in March and now, which include multiple counts of gaining benefit by fraud and breach of bail conditions. Curulli was previously accused of using expense accounts to purchase items for personal use and selling some products to pocket the money. He faces new charges including supplying a prohibited drug and possession of methylamphetamine along with other misconduct.

Written by AI on 2026-09-26, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

Sam Curulli, who was previously a deputy CEO at the Shire of Coorow in Western Australia, has been charged by police with 46 additional offenses. These charges come on top of accusations from earlier this year when he was accused of attempting to gain benefit through fraud and corruption between May and December 2025 while helping to run the Mid West council.

Police allege that Curulli used expense accounts to obtain items for his personal use, selling some products and pocketing the proceeds. The new charges include two counts of supplying a prohibited drug, one count of possessing methylamphetamine, and possession of drug paraphernalia. Additionally, he faces 16 counts of gaining benefit by fraud, six counts of making or supplying identification material with intent to commit an offense, and one count of possessing such material for the same purpose.

The council initially described Curulli as "an experienced individual" when announcing his appointment in April 2023. However, these recent developments raise significant questions about governance and transparency within the Shire of Coorow.

Written for “Child Abuse Allegations Continue” on 2026-10-30, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.

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This article reads unscored and hedges 27% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.

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Hedges 3 of 12 claims Outlet record 61/100

“The articles describe different phases or updates about Sam Curulli's legal troubles; Article A focuses on charges after March arrest while Article B covers his bail for new charges following dismissal.”

How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted

sentences that state something as happening or true

Uncertain

27%

3 of 11 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")

Leaning

not political

takes no side on a contested political question

Publisher signals

61/100

The Sydney Morning Herald's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.

Outlets on this story

Politics

Same framing elsewhere

articles that frame the event the way this one does

Analyzed 2026-09-26 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability

Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

The Sydney Morning Herald · 5569 article(s) · 15 correction(s) detected

Running correction rate · 15 correction(s)

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Who wrote this

Rebecca Peppiatt

16 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction

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🔮 In the past year, multiple court hearings have been held to determine whether McKenna should be deemed a High Risk Serious Offender which will make his upcoming release from prison less about his freedom and more about ensuring the protection of the community if he reoffends.

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🔮 Earlier this year Sam Curulli, 27, was accused of attempting to gain benefit by fraud, corruption, and stealing between May and December 2025, while helping to run the Mid West council.

2026-09-26 · mixed framing · Former shire deputy continued offending after March arrest, police allege

Also by Rebecca Peppiatt

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2026-10-20 · The Sydney Morning Herald

Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.

All 16 articles by Rebecca Peppiatt →

Topics

LinkedIn Shire Shire of Coorow WA Police the Shire of Coorow

Subjects

Curulli PERSON · 4× the Shire of Coorow GPE · 2× Coorow GPE · 1× LinkedIn ORG · 1× Sam PERSON · 1× Sam Curulli PERSON · 1× Shire GPE · 1× Shire of Coorow ORG · 1× WA Police ORG · 1× the Shire of Cuballing GPE · 1×

Narrative

A ‘welcome to the team’ notice posted after Curulli’s appointment at the Shire of Coorow, the council stated that he was “an experienced individual with a demonstrated history across a range of portfolios including governance and strategy, legal and risk, procurement and contracts, community development and special projects”.

framing: mixed · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-26

🔮 Earlier this year Sam Curulli, 27, was accused of attempting to gain benefit by fraud, corruption, and stealing between May and December 2025, while helping to run the Mid West council.

2026-09-26 · The Sydney Morning Herald

Former shire deputy continued offending after March arrest, police allege · mixed framing

Claims (11 extracted, 3 hedged)

The former deputy CEO of a Mid West council has been charged by police with a further 46 offences - including possessing drugs - which police allege took place after his March arrest for similar offending. asserted

police → charge → offending

Earlier this year Sam Curulli, 27, was accused of attempting to gain benefit by fraud, corruption, and stealing between May and December 2025, while helping to run the Mid West council. uncertain

Curulli → accuse → council

At the time police said Curulli used expense accounts to obtain items for his own personal benefit, and also sold some of the ordered products, pocketing the money for himself. asserted

Curulli → say → himself

Now he faces a raft of new similar charges, along with two charges of supplying a prohibited drug, possession of methylamphetamine and possession of drug paraphernalia. asserted

he → face → paraphernalia

In a statement released on Saturday, a WA Police spokeswoman said Curulli had been charged with a further 46 offences which they allege took place between his arrest in March this year and now. asserted

they → release → March

Along with the drug allegations, they include 16 counts of gaining benefit by fraud, six counts of made, used or supplied identification material with intent to commit an offence, one count of possession of identification material with intent to commit an offence and two counts of breaching protective bail conditions. asserted

they → include → conditions

In a statement released by police in March, they claimed Curulli attended the Shire of Coorow offices the day after he was sacked and allegedly stole items valued at about $3,000. “Police will allege upon termination, the man committed an act of perjury by unlawfully accessing social media and email accounts to send himself false messages, which were utilised to obtain a court order,” they said. uncertain

they → release → order

The commerce-graduate was appointed deputy chief executive at the Shire of Coorow in 2025, when he was 26 years old, after having worked as a governance officer at two metropolitan councils. asserted

he → appoint → councils

According to his LinkedIn profile, he left the Shire in December 2025, and in February this year, commenced as the deputy chief executive at the Shire of Cuballing. uncertain

he → accord → Cuballing

he → post → governance

“Sam is very keen to be part of the Coorow, Leeman and Green Head communities and cannot wait to get started,” it read. asserted

it → wait → communities