Werribee grandma jailed for stealing $463k from employer to play pokies
A Werribee grandmother with a gambling addiction who stole nearly half a million dollars from her car dealership employer, has been jailed.
Wyndham Leader
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A grandmother who stole more than $463,000 from her Werribee employer to feed her secret gambling addiction has been sentenced to nine months’ jail.
Kerry Joan Caulfield, 49, pleaded guilty to fleecing $463,028 from Hopper Motor Group — which has six car dealerships in Werribee, Essendon and the city — where she had worked for 10 years.
Meanwhile, new data has revealed more than $55 million has been lost in Wyndham pokies so far this financial year.
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The County Court heard Caulfield, who was responsible for banking and reconciliation across five of thee dealerships, stole between $1000 and $21,000 each month between February 2015 and February 2018 and falsified accounting records to cover up her crimes.
Meanwhile, more than $55 million has been lost at the pokies in Wyndham so far this financial year, according to the latest figures from the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation.
The County Court heard Caulfield had turned to the pokies following the trauma of finding her ex-husband and father of her two daughters dead at his home in 2014 and to escape her “emotionally controlling” second marriage.
Caulfield told a psychologist she had a longstanding gambling problem and had attended Gamblers Anonymous five years before she started her stealthy stealing spree.
Hopper Motor Group co-owner Joanne Seymon, a long-time friend of Caulfield, said in her victim impact statement she felt betrayed and had suffered physically and emotionally.
The company had also been put under financial strain and forced to lay off some employees.
Judge Susan Cohen said while the offending was “well into the mid-range of seriousness for such a charge”, Caulfield showed genuine remorse.
“Your prospects of rehabilitation are good. That is, provided you do not relapse into sustained gambling,” she said.
Caulfield was sentenced to nine months’ jail and a two-year community corrections order, including treatment for her gambling addiction and 50 hours of community work.
Data released late last month shows $8.9 million was lost at Wyndham poker machines in December.
More than $55 million has been lost so far this financial year, a three per cent rise on the same period last year.
Nearby Brimbank has so far this financial year recorded losses of $74 million on electronic gaming machines, while Hobson’s Bay pokies players lost $24.7 million.
For help with a gambling addiction, go to gamblershelp.com.au
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