Priceline pharmacy rort: former manager Troy Cetrola jailed for stealing almost $750,000
A former pharmacy manager has been jailed after he stole almost $750,000 and blew it gambling online with SportsBet, CrownBet and Tabcorp.
South East
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A gambling addicted former Carrum Downs Priceline manager who blew almost $750,000 in stolen cash on online betting will spend at least 18 months behind bars.
Troy Cetrola in November pleaded guilty in the Victorian County Court to one charge of theft and one charge of false accounting.
Cetrola’s offending occurred between July 2015 and June 2017 while he was in charge of banking for the Carrum Downs Priceline.
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He took portions of the daily cash receipts which should have been deposited into the company’s bank account.
Cetrola, who stole an average of $40,000 a month until he was caught, created a false accounting record to offset what he had been keeping for himself, the court heard.
However, the degenerate gambler has nothing to show for it as he blew the lot gambling online with SportsBet, CrownBet and Tabcorp.
Tabcorp documents presented in court showed Cetrola made 13,000 plus bets totalling $1.744 million between July 2014 and July 2017 despite only having an annual gross salary of $65,000.
The documents also showed Cetrola was a high roller who sometimes lost hundreds of thousands of dollars on single bets.
Cetrola, who felt under appreciated by his employer, attempted to deflect blame onto the accounting system when discrepancies were first detected.
His failure to immediately admit guilt led to a co-worker coming under suspicion.
Police went to Cetrola’s home to interview him but he attempted to evade them.
He still denied doing anything wrong right up until he was charged.
Judge Susan Cohen said Cetrola was entitled to be treated as having been of good character but this is why he was in a trusted position within the company.
“It is not unusual when employees have stolen from employers that it was their previously good character, and lack of prior criminal record, that led to them being trusted by their employers,” she said.