Car salesman avoids prison
A CAR salesman defrauded his own employer out of thousands of pounds to fund his drug and gambling habits. He was handed a suspended prison sentence.
A CAR salesman defrauded his own employer out of thousands of pounds to fund his drug and gambling habits.
Daniel Robert Jones, from Bridgend, stole more than £18,000 while working at Fordthorne Motor Park on Penarth Road, Cardiff.
The 24-year-old’s offending came to light after bosses at the car dealership noticed more than a dozen transactions were refunded into Jones’ account between March and July 2019.
Jones told police he had taken the money to fund his drug habit and addiction to gambling.
Appearing via video link, Paul Hewitt summarised the case for the prosecution at a sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court on Thursday, May 28.
Mr Hewitt said Jones had worked at Fordthorne for about two years from 2017 until July 2019, when his employment was terminated. Mr Hewitt explained that Robert Evans, another employee at the dealership, first noticed Jones’ offending after conducting a routine check on a payment transaction on the company’s records.
Mr Evans discovered that the transaction for £1,000 was refunded the next day into a Lloyds Visa Debit card account belonging to Jones.
Subsequent checks revealed 13 more similar transactions had been made into the same account. The 14 transactions totalled £12,500.
Mr Hewitt said Jones admitted to taking the money in a disciplinary meeting with Mr Evans and another colleague in July, 2019.
After his dismissal, the company found a further £6,000 had been taken where Jones had emailed customers from the company email address requesting them to pay money by bank transfer into an account he owned.
Mr Hewitt said, in total, Jones took £18,500.
When questioned by police, Mr Hewitt said Jones admitted owning both accounts used to obtain the money.
Jones admitted he had decided to take the money in order to fund his drug habit and a gambling addiction.
Adam Sharp, defending, said Jones is a young man from a “respectful, hard working family”.
Mr Sharp said one of the triggers of his client’s offending was the death of his grandmother.
He added that his client had no relevant antecedence record and deserved full credit for his early guilty plea and “genuine heartfelt remorse”.
Jones, of Riverside, Aberkenfig, Bridgend, pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud at an earlier hearing.
Sentencing, Judge Catherine Richards said: “At 24 years of age this is your first conviction.
“You had become addicted to cocaine and gambling. Due to the choices you made you defrauded the company you worked for. That is a terrible breach of trust.
“Luckily, in your case it is not suggested that you put the company into a particularly difficult financial position.
“However, it is too easy to think that companies can absorb that sort of loss. Often they cannot and they should not have to do so.”
Judge Richards sentenced Jones to 10 months in prison, suspended for 12 months, for each of the offences.
He must also complete 150 hours of unpaid work in the community and 25 days rehabilitation activity requirement.
A victim surcharge of £140 must be paid within six months.