Gambler blew £144k of his parents’ cash
A THIEF blew £144,000 on internet gambling after emptying his parents’ bank accounts, a court heard.
Jason Rogers, 28, took advantage of his father Richard, who suffers from Alzheimer’s, and his mother Carol over a fourmonth period last year.
A court heard how Rogers stole £54,000 from their bank accounts between August and November.
He blew the money on a website of Irish gambling company Paddy Power. At one stage he asked the betting firm to close his account but it did not.
When he ran out of money, Rogers, who had power of attorney over his father’s finances, applied for £90,000 of loans from a number of financial institutions by pretending to be his parents. After the money was put in their accounts, Rogers transferred it to his.
The thief obtained one loan by tricking his father into signing the application. Rogers continued to gamble until his mother was told by her TSB branch that her account had been ‘cleaned out’.
The story emerged after Rogers, of Belhaven, Dunbar, in East Lothian, pleaded guilty at Edinburgh Sheriff Court to theft and fraudulently obtaining £90,000.
After warning Rogers that he faced a possible prison sentence, Sheriff Robert Fife said: ‘It beggars belief. What systems did the bank have in place to have stopped this from happening?
‘Why did the banks not take some steps to stop this before the account was cleared?
‘I would have assumed that banks would want to protect money rather than allow it to be defrauded.’
Depute procurator fiscal Aidan Higgins had told the court how Rogers’s father took early retirement in 2007, when he received a £37,000 lump sum and a pension of £1,200 to £1,400 a month.
Mr Higgins said he was diagnosed with Alzeheimer’s in 2012 at the age of 57 and deteriorated ‘quickly’.
Rogers helped set up online bank accounts for his mother. He had the log-in details and was granted power of attorney over his father’s finances. Mr Higgins said Mrs Rogers was asked to go to her TSB branch last November.
He said: ‘She was informed that her accounts, which were joint accounts with her husband, had been cleared out.’
When she got home, she found a letter in which her son confessed to having taken £54,000 for gambling.
Mr Higgins said: ‘She confronted the accused in person and he admitted he had used the money for gambling. He went on to tell her how he obtained loans in her and her husband’s names.’
‘After that conversation, the mother contacted police.’
Sheriff Fife adjourned sentence in order to obtain reports into Rogers’s character. He will be sentenced on October 26.
Paddy Power last night said it did not comment on individual customer accounts.
A TSB spokesman said: ‘We’re not able to comment on individual cases but we will always chase down criminals and investigate all cases of alleged fraud.’
‘Why did banks not stop it?’