Printco fraud: Jail for bookkeeper who dumped stolen cash at Crown Casino
A shonky bookkeeper who swindled more than $1m from her Oakleigh South employer blew the lot on gambling, eating out and shopping.
Inner South
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A shonky bookkeeper who gambled, dined and shopped away more than $1 million she fleeced from her Oakleigh South employer will spend the next four years behind bars.
Debby Ragkeb last month pleaded guilty in the Victorian County Court to 10 charges of obtaining property by deception.
Ragkeb’s crimes took place while she worked as the bookkeeper for real estate signage company Printco between September 2007 and September 2016.
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During this time she rorted $1,264,453.30 from Printco’s coffers via 399 unauthorised transactions which included bogus invoices and bank transfers.
The high-flying mother spent most of the cash gambling at Crown casino with her sons.
The rest of it was flittered away on eating out, shopping and entertainment.
Ragkeb’s racket came unstuck shortly after Printco engaged a financial controller to go over their books in July 2016.
The financial controller quickly discovered what was happening and reported it to police.
Ragkeb was terminated from Printco not long after.
In sentencing, Judge Howard Mason labelled Ragkeb’s offending as “serious”.
“It was protracted, extending over a period of nine years,” he said.
“It was predatory in that you exploited a position of great trust.
“It was considered, calculated and involved substantial sums of money.
“The deception was executed for the purposes of maintaining a lifestyle of recreational spending.
“(The managing director of Printco) gave eloquent testimony to the debilitating emotional effects that your acts have caused, quite apart from the financial impact of the loss of funds to the business.”
Ragkeb was sentenced to six years with a non-parole period of four.
She wrote a letter to her former boss not long after losing her job which expressed remorse and a desire to repay the money.
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