Payroll manager stole $127k from pet company for his juice bar business
A PAYROLL worker who pilfered more than $100,000 from a pet store chain to fund his failed juice bar and Indian restaurant businesses, has escaped jail.
South East
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A PAYROLL worker who pilfered more than $100,000 from a pet store chain to fund his failed juice bar and Indian restaurant businesses, has escaped jail.
Alop Patel stole $127,000 from Best Friends — which has stores in Mornington, Cranbourne, Mentone, Rowville and Pakenham — in a series of “bonus” payments to himself.
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Earlier this month the County Court heard the 32-year-old was a payroll manager who started work at the pet care company in 2014.
He and a friend had a dream of opening a juice bar in Sydney, with each needing to contribute $75,000 for the start-up costs.
To fund this Patel ripped off Best Friends 14 times between June 2015 and December 2016, each time paying non-existent “bonuses” from the company into his own bank account.
But the juice bar was haemorrhaging money, so he thought it would be a tasty idea to also set up an Indian restaurant in a shopping centre, again in Sydney.
This too failed, due to too-strong competition from other food outlets nearby.
Both businesses are now gone.
The deception was uncovered in an audit, Patel lost his job and he was arrested.
The married father of one has since borrowed money from his family in India and took out personal loans to fully repay the pet care company.
Judge Scott Johns said while the repeated acts of dishonesty and the serious breach of trust were significant, Patel had a low risk of reoffending.
“I accept that you were completely overwhelmed by these financial pressures,” Judge Johns said.
“I am prepared to accept you were under considerable financial stress and strain and that these factors led to you acting in a grossly dishonest fashion that was otherwise out of character.”
Patel was convicted and sentenced to a three-year community corrections order and must do 300 hours of unpaid work.
If he had not pleaded guilty he would have been jailed for two years with a non-parole period of 14 months.
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