Guard jailed for raiding ATM
A disgraced security guard who raided the ATM he was paid to protect, then buried most of the
$180,000 loot, is going to jail. Tony John Williams, who was aggrieved over a workplace injury from lifting a bag of coins, came to court yesterday with a
$37,818 cheque to pay for his stolen-money shopping spree.
Christchurch District Court Judge Tom Gilbert accepted the money as reparation, then jailed
38-year-old Williams for two years and two months.
He told Williams: ‘‘This was not an offence born of drunken stupidity. It was a well-planned heist.’’
Williams, 38, admitted the burglary charge in May. Judge Gilbert said the offending was a gross abuse of trust, and involved ‘‘an awful lot of money’’.
Williams was an employee of nationwide security company Armourguard.
In January, he went into a laundromat at 2.07am, using a key and alarm codes taken from his work and unlocked the rear of a Rolleston bank’s ATM machine before removing two cassettes containing $50 and $20 notes – cash totalling $179,300.
He dumped the cassettes in a Halswell stream and resigned from the security firm three days after the burglary.
Williams buried $130,000 in his garden and $10,000 in the house. He spent about $38,000 on groceries, cigarettes, alcohol, flights, tattoos, concert tickets and other goods and services. He paid off his personal debt.
When police spoke to him, he led them to the buried cash. They recovered $141,331 from his address and vehicle.
Police sought forfeiture of a piano, a $1300 drone and the concert tickets he bought using stolen cash.
Defence counsel ShannonLeigh Litt said Williams’ family provided the reparation money. His parents were in court to support him. He wanted to serve home detention at their home, but the judge ruled out that option.
The probation officer who interviewed Williams ahead of his sentencing said they could discern ‘‘no real remorse’’.
Litt detailed two grievances Williams had against his former employer over workplace injuries. She alleged the company verbally threatened him to get him to write a letter saying that ligament damage to a foot had not happened at work. She said he injured his back because he was told to lift large bags of coins and had to take time off work.
‘‘The company made him do certain things that were in breach of the health-and-safety rules,’’ she said.
All the stolen money had been recovered or was being repaid as reparations. Williams co-operated with the police and pleaded guilty early, she said.
Judge Gilbert said the offending affected Armourguard by damaging its credibility in the security industry. It led to them facing higher insurance premiums, as well as the costs of their own investigation.
He noted that the firm’s relationship with the bank involved survived. If it had not, there would likely have been significant job losses at the firm.