Outdoor Furniture Specialists: Matthew Hiesgen funded gambling habit with furniture store fraud
A store manager who embezzled a Campbelltown furniture store he worked at has told a court he had to funded his drug and gambling habits.
Illawarra Star
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An Illawarra man who embezzled more than $7000 from a furniture store to fund his drug and gambling habits has escaped jail time.
Matthew Hiesgen, 32, faced Wollongong Local Court on Tuesday, where he was placed on a three-year community corrections order to complete 250 hours community service, after pleading guilty to eight counts of embezzle while employed as clerk or servant.
The court heard that on several occasions between October 2016 and November 2018, Hiesgen embezzled a total of $7038 through false transactions while employed as a store manager at Outdoor Furniture Specialists in Campbelltown.
The court heard Hiesgen’s scheme was “in no way sophisticated” and that he kept a record of the false transactions on his work system “almost as if he expected to get caught”.
In an agreed set of facts tendered to the court, it was revealed Hiesgen embezzled the store by creating fake transactions, at times selling property to customers for cash, which he kept for himself.
These transactions were discovered by another employee, who investigated further, and realised the transactions didn’t match up with other sales records.
When confronted by superior staff members in November 2018, Hiesgen admitted to the false transactions, putting his head in his hands, saying “yeah I did it”, according to court documents.
Hiesgen told his colleagues he sold the items to fund his gambling addiction, and produced a list of items he’d sold, which he kept a record of on his mobile phone.
Before contacting police, Hiesgen’s boss offered him the opportunity to repay the sum of money he’s embezzled, to which he responded: “it’d just be easier to go to jail”.
Hiesgen was terminated from his role and on November 27, his boss contacted to police.
On Tuesday, Hiesgen’s defence lawyer Matt Ward told the court his client wasn’t using the money to “fund a lavish lifestyle” and that he was instead struggling with addiction.
“While we aren’t dealing with a small amount of money, he was not living a lavish life … and has taken significant steps of rehabilitation in terms of his mental health and drug use,” he said.
He also made it clear his client had repaid the money since after he was arrested and charged.
Magistrate Jillian Kiely said while Hiesgen had abused his position of trust at Outdoor Furniture Specialists, his offending was in no way sophisticated, and agreed he had shown signs of rehabilitation.
Noting he had prior matters of dishonesty on his record, Magistrate Kiely placed the 32 -year-old, who lives with his mother and father on a community corrections order for a period of three years, with a community service component.
“His record does not assist him in any way,” she said. “He should be aware of the consequences (for matters like this).”