Cranbourne South BP service station rip off: former manager Michael Davies avoids jail
A Cranbourne South service station manager who stole more than $120,000 to fuel an uncontrollable pokie addiction has escaped jail time.
South East
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A Cranbourne South service station manager who stole more than $120,000 to feed an uncontrollable pokie addiction has avoided jail time.
Michael Davies was last week sentenced in the County Court to a community corrections order after he earlier pleaded guilty to theft.
Davies’ offending occurred between August 23, 2017 and February 7, 2018 while he was the manager of the BP Service Station in Cranbourne South.
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The trusted employee would regularly steal $500-$1500 from the daily takings.
He gambled the money on pokie machines at the Trios Sports Club in Cranbourne.
Davies’ lost most of the time but on one occasion he claimed to have won $17,000 which was deposited into the company’s bank account.
He tried to mask his fraud by using money from the next day’s takings to top up the cash he stole from the previous day’s takings, the court was told.
However Davies’ plan backfired as he continued to fall further and further behind.
The rort came unstuck when an employee of the service station’s owners, Jasbe Petroleum, queried why banking deposits were two weeks behind.
Davies confessed to his crimes the next day.
He was arrested by police on February 14.
During his police interview, Davies said he was surprised it took the company so long to find out about his crime.
The remorseful gambler also said he had trouble controlling himself and he knew the company was “going to figure it out sooner later”.
Judge Carolene Gwynn placed Davies on 22-month community corrections order.
He was also ordered to perform 250 hours of unpaid community work and repay the money he stole.
Jasbe Petroleum was contacted for comment.
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