Deniel Bee stole over $63,000 from father’s Music Workshop Geelong

A popular South Geelong music shop lost more than $63,000 in three years. After an audit, the “heartbroken” owner discovered his son was the culprit.

Deniel Bee swindled his father's shop, Music Workshop Geelong, out of more than $63,000. Picture: Google Maps.

The owner of a South Geelong music shop said he was “heartbroken” to discover his son swindled the business out of more than $63,000 months before the pandemic hit.

Between June 2016 and June 2019, Geelong man Deniel Bee, 45, stole $63,939 from his father’s Fyans St business, Music Workshop Geelong, by redeeming customer credits for cash, completing second cash-ups of the store and having customers deposit into his accounts.

He pleaded guilty in the Geelong Magistrates Court on Thursday.

His barrister, Tim Sullivan, said the 19 obtain property by deception and four theft charges were “as serious as they were sad”.

Deniel Bee leaving the Geelong Magistrates Court after pleading guilty to stealing more than $63,000 from his father’s South Geelong business.

His father, Greg Bee, said he never wanted his son to go to jail but “hoped he would learn his lesson and go on to a happy future”.

“There’s no winners in something like this,” Greg said.

“I’m just so disappointed in what he’s done while he was working here and betraying me over so many years.”

Months before discovering the total loss, Greg had a backup computer system integrated into the shop, which would eventually save him three years’ worth of customer data.

In June 2019, after Deniel told his father he was quitting, Greg discovered he had wiped the computer of this data.

A month later, Deniel agreed to meet his father and stepmother, Sandra, who told him they discovered money was missing.

Deniel Bee in a photo taken alongside a June 2020 article for Tourbus Entertainment, a year after his father discovered money was missing. Picture: Peter Ristevski

Deniel reportedly then said, “well, what do I owe you?”.

The court heard Deniel had hired his then-girlfriend at the store and opened an online store through eBay.

Greg did not agree to this and in 2019, with the store in debt, found $59,523 had been lost in just 11 months.

Greg told the Geelong Advertiser that Deniel allegedly “manipulated” the eBay store to deposit money into his own accounts.

While his father’s business struggled to recover, Deniel told the Geelong Advertiser in June 2020 that his newly owned music business, Tourbus Entertainment, was staying afloat during Covid because he had started a website for international sales.

Mr Sullivan said in court this business did not survive.

Prosecutor John Weigl told the court Deniel’s offending could have ended in a “short, sharp” jail sentence.

“It’s a sophisticated misappropriation of funds, it was planned, it was over an extensive period of time,” Mr Weigl said.

Magistrate Ann McGarvie agreed it was “planned and calculated”.

“It is a serious breach of trust, and although the relationship here is of an employee stealing from an employer, it was also stealing from your father,” Ms McGarvie said.

Bee was convicted, fined $3000 and placed on a two-year community corrections order.

Originally published as Deniel Bee stole over $63,000 from father’s Music Workshop Geelong