Craig Robert Dale has been sentenced to seven years in prison for defrauding almost $3 million from the remote Kimberley community of Warmun.
Dale was contracted to build homes, a clinic and a school in Warmun after it was devastated by flooding in 2011.
He completed those works, but also took $2.77 million for works that were never completed, the ABC reports.
The fraud occurred across October 2013 to June 2014.
Dale was charged in 2020 and ultimately entered a guilty plea to 14 counts of gaining benefit by fraud.
The sentencing of the 58-year-old was delayed twice after he discharged lawyers on the eve of sentencing dates on two occasions, the ABC reports.
Judge David MacLean told Dale he had a "bad habit" of firing his legal counsel before a significant court appearance, and that sentencing would proceed with or without a new lawyer.
On Friday, the judge described Dale's offending as an "entirely self-motivated interest" which was primarily to fund gambling.
"I don't accept you're either remorseful or you had genuine regard for the community," he said.
The ABC reports that Judge MacLean said Dale exploited the trust of the community.
"You received money, you spent the money and repeated the process," he said.
"You wasted the entirety of that money on gambling.
"[The] community itself was particularly vulnerable [because of] the natural disaster that had taken place."
State prosecutor Mark Hunter said one of the biggest impacts of Dale's offending was an aged care facility being unable to open, as the community could no longer resource it.
"The utterly tragic consequence of that is that there's a fabulous facility structure that simply wasn't being used," Mr Hunter said.
The prosecution noted the community had been in a good financial position before being defrauded, and the offences had caused "division and discord" in the community, in the words Warmun resident Madeline Purdie.
The state also ordered a compensation order to the total amount of $2,770,275 taken by Dale, be paid back to the Warmun community.
