Cafe Gourmand embezzlement: Judy Milton jailed for swindling Angele and Robert Grondin
A remorseless woman who stole online banking logins by peeking over her Mt Eliza client’s shoulder continued to steal thousands of dollars even after her victim was diagnosed with cancer.
South East
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A shonky bookkeeper swindled $250,000 from the owners of a Mt Eliza cafe even after one of the victims was diagnosed with cancer.
Judy Milton, aka Judit Repkenyi, was hired by Glen Waverley couple Angele and Robert Grondin to handle the books at their newly opened business, Cafe Gourmand, in 2009.
Milton, under her trading name After Dark Accounting, had done the books for Mr Grondin’s plumbing business since 2007.
The sly accountant stole online banking login details by peering over Mrs Grondin’s shoulders as she typed.
She then siphoned $250,000 in small transactions into her personal bank account between 2009 and 2014, a court has heard.
Mrs Grondin was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2010, which meant her husband had to close his plumbing business to help at the cafe.
The couple worked tirelessly to keep the business afloat.
Milton’s skulduggery came unstuck after the Grondin’s closed the cafe for two weeks over the 2014 Christmas break.
Mrs Grondin obtained printed statements which revealed several “suspicious” transactions while the cafe was closed.
The Grondin’s asked their daughter-in-law Evette Grondin – a professional accountant – to probe the bank records and Milton’s deceit was uncovered.
Desperate, Mrs Grondin frantically messaged Milton asking her to leave banking papers, invoices and MYOB data in her front garden.
But Milton never returned to work, never contacted the Grondins again and never answered any of Angela Grondin’s calls.
A police investigation revealed Milton made more than 100 illegal transactions over a five-year period.
Milton, 64, was sentenced in the County Court on December 6 to nine months’s prison after pleading guilty to one charge of theft.
The Grondins said, in separate victim impact statements, that they blamed the breakdown of their relationship on Milton.
Mr Grondin, 70, said he still works six days a week to make ends meet.
Mrs Grondin said she and her husband worked hard for five years but “they will not be reimbursed”.
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Judge Kevin Doyle said Milton’s offending involved an “appalling breach of trust”.
“(The Grondins) completely trusted you and had faith in you,” he said.
“The Grondins were older people doing their best to run a small cafe as they approached retirement age.”
Milton was sentenced to a maximum 22 months’ prison with 13 months suspended.