Pest controller ripped off in $122K bug fraud

Trusted employee who stole chemicals now behind bars.

A pest control worker has been jailed after comitting fraud.

A PEST control company fell victim to a $122,000 fraud committed by a trusted employee who stole its termite and insecticide chemicals then sold them online.

In the Crown prosecution case, Rameces Manguerra was employed at Termx Replenishment Systems in Acacia Ridge in charge of stock control when he began stealing.

His crime only discovered when the company was sold by owner Colin Davies, who an Ipswich court heard was left feeling ‘betrayed’.

Manguerra, 42, from Springfield Lakes, is now behind bars after being sentenced in Ipswich District Court on Thursday to a four-year jail penalty.

He has previously repaid the company $130,000.

Rameces Manguerra pleaded guilty to five charges – committing fraud at Acacia Ridge and elsewhere between March 2017 and September 2018 where he dishonestly applied for his own use pest control chemicals and products belonging to Termx Replenishment Systems that yielded him at least $100,000; dishonestly applied for his own use pest control products and chemicals owned by Termx Replenishment Systems between August 2018 and May 2019 in Springfield Lakes and elsewhere; disposed of property and pest treatment supplies suspected of being tainted property between June 2018 and June 2019; carried out pest management activities, preparing pest chemicals for sale when not a pest technician at Springfield between June 2018 and June 2019; and when not licensed to carry out pest management activities as advertised did carry out that activity.

Crown prosecutor Victoria Adams said Manguerra had no previous criminal history

“He was a trusted employee and trusted so much that no checks were in place,” Ms Adams said.

“It was not until the sale of the company when he decided to leave that his offending was detected. He did apologise.”

Ms Adams said he had since repaid $130,000 through a Deed of Release with no restitution outstanding.

Manguerra’s first series of offences were committed while employed by the company, and the second group done after he left Termx in late August 2018 when it was sold.

Termx manufactures termite insecticide dispersion systems and formed part of the Allgan International Group of Companies founded by Mr Davies.

Manguerra joined the company in 2015 working in the warehouse.

The storeman was promoted to stock control and responsible for ordering and receiving the chemicals that were kept locked in a secure area.

However, Manguerra began stealing the products and chemicals, stockpiling them at his home and selling the products on eBay.

The sale of the stolen chemicals earned him $122,597.

The prosecution sought a jail penalty of at least four years that could be suspended after he served some of it.

Defence lawyer Ali Rama from Go To Court Lawyers, said Manguerra paid $130,000, although the amount that he earned was $122,597.

He sought a penalty that would see Manguerra serve no more than nine to 12 months in jail because of his financial restitution and remorse.

Mr Rama said Mangeurra instructs that he did not start taking goods away until March 2016, effectively storing them at his house then selling.

“He experienced significant poverty in his background and wanted to be more supportive to his wife,” Mr Rama said.

Judge Dennis Lynch QC sentenced him to four years jail – to be suspended for five years after Mangeurra served 10 months.

Judge Lynch said he’d been given a great deal of trust by Mr Davies in ordering and receiving pest control stock.

He had sole access to the chemicals and held the keys to the locked caged area where the stock was kept.

Judge Lynch said he took away the pest chemicals, and while working at Termx had sold 814 products that earned him $103,094.65.

After leaving the company Mangeurra sold 144 stolen products that earned him $19,502.78.

The chemicals were sold in smaller quantities through his personal website shopwiseaustralia.

Judge Lynch said there was no great sophistication in his offending but it did involve “a great deal of deception and dishonesty”.

Under the Pest Management Act people selling such chemicals are also required to be licensed.

“Your employer had significant trust in you and regarded you as part of his working family,” Judge Lynch said.

“He felt completely betrayed.”

He noted that despite growing up in the Philippines in poverty, Mangeurra was well educated and graduated from university in industrial engineering before coming to Australia in 2008.

Read more stories by Ross Irby here.

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