Prison for man who stole and embezzled £30k from garages to cover gambling addiction

Tuesday 29 August 2017

A 38-year-old man who stole and embezzled over £30k from two garages between April 2016 and March 2017 to cover his gambling addiction has been sentenced to two and a half years in prison.

Lee David Arnold stole £15,880, and embezzled a further £400, from Jacksons (CI) while working at Motor Mall and £16,500 from Freelance (CI).

Arnold was employed as a Sales Manager at Motormall between September 2014 and September 2016. In April 2016, he cashed in a £11,000 cheque a car dealer had made for the purchase of a Honda CRV.  

Two months later, a woman bought a Peugeot 108 for her granddaughter and part exchanged a Peugeot 106 as part of the deal. She paid a £500 deposit and made a £11,495 card payment. Arnold used the credit card receipt to cover the larceny of the Honda CRV, asking for a sales invoice to be produced in the name of a fictitious customer. He then asked for the deposit for the Peugeot to be refunded - a cheque that was never presented for payment - explaining that the customer had changed her mind.

Arnold never registered the sale of the Peugeot 108 with Driving and Vehicle Standards. When the driver was stopped by Customs Officers and contacted Motor Mall, the garage confirmed that according to their records the car had never been sold and was still on the forecourt. Arnold also sold the Peugeot 106 to another man for £400 without advising Motor Mall of the car ever being in stock and kept the money. 

Arnold sold a black Ford Fiesta, that had been part exchanged as part of another purchase, to a customer and gave him his personal bank details, not the garage's, for the payment of £4,800 to be transferred.

Whilst employed at Freelance (CI) between September 2016 and April 2017, Arnold stole £16,500 from the garage. In March 2017, he stole £4,500 from the sale of a Triumph Stag by having £9,000 transferred to his account. While the card was worth £10,000, he invoiced it as £4,500 and paid the amount from his own card to Freelance (CI). The buyer also made a £1,000 card payment on delivery of the vehicle meaning that Freelance (CI) was still owed £4,500.

Arnold stole a further £12,000 from the sale of a Porsche 911 worth £22,000 later the same month. A UK dealer made two bank transfers of £9,000 and £13,000 to his account but Arnold only transferred £10,000 to Freelance (CI) and left the Porsche as being in stock.

The last two offences occurred after Arnold had been arrested for the ones committed at Motor Mall. During his first interview, he admitted he had a very bad gambling habit and that he had stolen funds from Jacksons, although he couldn't give any details. However he said Jacksons knew what he had been doing and had him sign a confidentiality agreement before he left the company, which Jacksons denied. When he was interviewed for the offences committed at Freelance (CI) Arnold explained he had spent the £16,500 on his gambling habit.  

Prosecuting, the Attorney General Robert MacRae explained that the offences had been committed when the employee was trusted by his employers and that his actions had left a lasting impression on Freelance (CI) who have changed their procedures as a result.

Arnold's advocate Adam Harrison explained that he moved to Jersey in November 2013 with his partner and child. However, his partner did not settle in the island and returned to the mainland in January 2016. Advocate Harrison: "The separation from his child and the breakdown of his relationship led him to a catastrophic descent in to addiction and he filled his spare time with gambling and drinking. He was on a course of self-destruct which led him to commit those offences. He has expressed remorse for his action and feels bad about what he did."

Handing out his sentence, the Deputy Bailiff Tim Le Cocq, who was sitting with Jurats Collette Crill and Rozanne Thomas, said the fact the offending against the second employer took place after Arnold was charged for his first offending was a very significant aggravating factor. He added that the Court had read the letters of reference which he said spoke a different kind of character adding that the pain caused to Arnold's family because of his offences was regrettable.

He agreed with the sentences suggested by the Crown and sentenced Arnold to two and a half years in prison but dismissed the compensation claim made by one of the companies saying that it wouldn't be appropriate as Arnold would not have the means to pay it.