IN FOR A PESO, IN FOR A POUND
GEELONG POSTAL WORKER STOLE FOREIGN CURRENCY FROM MAIL
A GEELONG postal worker stole $33,800 of foreign currency while sorting the city’s mail but tried to downplay her crime by claiming she didn’t spend it.
Danalee Rayner, pictured, will be sentenced in Geelong Magistrates’ Court today after yesterday pleading guilty to stealing from the Australia
Post depot in North Geelong, where she was a long-time worker.
Danish krone, euros, Moroccan dinars, US, Kiwi and Singapore dollars, British pounds, Japanese yen, Indian rupees and Philippines pesos were among the currencies she took in March this year.
A GEELONG postal worker stole $33,800 of foreign currency while sorting the city’s mail but tried to downplay her crime yesterday by claiming she did not spend it.
However, Danalee Rayner’s earlier confessions and her link to a gambling exclusion program prompted a magistrate to say her new explanation was “nonsense” that sounded “like a lot of rubbish”.
Rayner, 47, will be sentenced in Geelong Magistrates’ Court today after yesterday pleading guilty to stealing from the Australia Post depot in North Geelong, where she was a long-time worker.
Danish krone, euros, Moroccan dinars, US, Kiwi and Singapore dollars, British pounds, Japanese yen, Indian rupees and Philippines pesos were among the currencies she took in March this year.
Now working on a farm, the Belmont churchgoer stole from a previous employer in the mid-1990s, the court heard.
Prosecutor Senior Constable Alex Good said Australia Post StarTrack noticed several foreign currency consignments meant for Geelong addresses in March made it to the North Geelong depot but did not reach their intended destination.
When three more went missing on April 1, the depot manager called a snap staff meeting.
“(He) stated that no one would be leaving the depot until the consignments were located,” Sen-Constable Good said. “Shortly after the meeting the three missing consignments were located in a package cage near where the accused was working.”
CCTV footage showed Rayner first hide the packages between delivery baskets, and then return them to the cage.
This prompted security footage from earlier days to be reviewed, with Rayner shown shoving packages into her gold handbag.
Police arrested her while she was working a different job the next day.
Sen-Constable Good said the woman made full admissions to the thefts.
“She stated she cashed in the foreign currency at Travelex in Westfield Geelong, and then used the money to pay off bills and debt. She claimed to have burnt some of the money obtained from the later thefts due to guilt,” the prosecutor said.
Defence lawyer Michael Kuzilny said although his client pleaded guilty to the theft she now said the money was not cashed in.
“It was never presented. She burnt it,” Mr Kuzilny said.
But Magistrate Michael Coghlan noted her earlier confession to police.
“$33,800 has gone missing, It doesn't exist any more,” Mr Coghlan said.
He asked why the woman did not burn the packaging and paperwork from earlier thefts that police found in the bin at her Belmont home on the day she was caught.
Although the court heard Rayner was racked with guilt, Mr Coghlan noted she had not repaid any of the money, had caused her innocent colleagues to come under suspicion, and only stopped offending and admitted to her crimes when she was caught red-handed.
The woman will be assessed for a community corrections order before being sentenced today.