Debbie Daniell: Mount Warren Park mum behind bars after brazen workplace theft

A Mount Warren Park mum will spend Christmas behind bars after pocketing $11,000 from her former Logan Village employers just five years after being convicted for taking $100,000 from another former employer.

A Mount Warren Park mum will spend Christmas behind bars after pocketing $11,000 from her former Logan Village employers just five years after being convicted for taking $100,000 from another former employer.

Debbie Jacqueline Daniell, 45, pleaded guilty to a charge of stealing by clerks and servants in district court at Beenleigh on Thursday after getting caught pocketing $11,000 from her employers at Spot on Plant Hire.

Debbie Jacqueline Daniell. Picture: Facebook

The court heard Daniell had a history of similar offending and was convicted for fraud in 2009 after defrauding her former employer, a family-owned travel trailer business, out of $102,899.20.

The mother of three had been employed at Spot on Plant Hire in Logan Village from 2011 until mid-2014.

She had access to the businesses bank accounts to do the banking and bill paying, but she transferred $2200 from the business bank account to her bank account on five occasions.

These payments were identified as rent and received on April 24, 2014, May 7, 2014, May 14, 2014, June 13, 2014, and July 3, 2014.

An audit identified the discrepancies in August the same year, and Daniell was sacked from her job.

Later, she agreed to repay the money, but that didn’t occur, and it was reported to the police.

During police interviews, Daniell said at the time she had been struggling and had to repay the money to the court for her previous settlement.

Daniell’s lawyer said her “bad judgment and bad decision making” at the time were results of her psychological status at the time when she was

ending an abusive relationship with her ex-partner

He said she was now in a supportive relationship with a new partner and was doing a lot of community work as the secretary of the Logan Village Fishing Club.

Judge Craig Chowdhury said he acknowledged that this offending breached the suspended sentence Daniell had been on at the time.

“it’s an absolute tragedy to see you back here because your references say that your otherwise a hardworking, decent woman who loves her family,” he said.

“Your friends and associates all think highly of you in regard to all those many references.

“This is not only going to be hard on you but hard on them as a result of that.”

She was sentenced to three years imprisonment to be released on court-ordered parole after serving five months in jail with a release date on March 13, 2022.