Woman who stole from non-profit employer given suspended sentence

By Eimear Dodd

A “loyal employee” has been given a suspended sentence for stealing over €16,000 from her non-profit employer’s petty cash box over a four-year period.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that Mary O’Sullivan, of Belclare Park, Ballymun in Dublin, had falsified receipts and kept incomplete accounting records.

The 52-year-old pleaded guilty to one count of deception, four counts of using a false instrument and four counts of false accounting. O’Sullivan had overseen the petty cash process for her employer, Leargas and taken €16,024 between 2016 and 2019.

She has no previous convictions and has not come to recent negative attention.

The offending came to light after a review was carried out in 2019 into irregularities in the petty cash, which was used to cover small expenses in the office of Leargas, a not-for-profit organisation which manages international and national exchange programmes in youth work, education and training.

The petty cash float rarely exceeded €300 and was held in a steel box with a key at O’Sullivan’s desk. A petty cash book was used to record transactions and a receipt had to be provided for reimbursement, the court was told.

An investigating garda told the court there was some pushback from O’Sullivan during the review. She was asked to reconcile the petty cash account for 2019 but appeared to delay doing this.

On December 3, 2019, she was asked to hand over the reconciliation of petty cash account. Three days later, she also handed over a bag of receipts and the petty cash book. O’Sullivan said several receipts had not yet been recorded in the petty cash book.

The court heard that the petty cash accounts between 2016 and 2019 were not complete and there were discrepancies.

The review also found that a number of receipts were altered or incorrect. Some receipts had been altered by pen to change the date or had the date stamp removed.

O’Sullivan was interviewed by gardai voluntarily four times. During interview, she passed blame to her colleagues, suggested money was moved around for budget purposes, and claimed all receipts relating to the petty cash were either in the office or in storage.

She told gardai the entries in the petty cash book were accurate, or any omissions were due to a backlog in her work.

In a later interview, O’Sullivan suggested she had been bullied, set up and had been a “loyal employee”.

She said the petty cash book was a true reflection of petty cash and maintained the receipts were in storage.

The court heard gardai carried out searches of storage boxes, but nothing of evidential value was found.

O’Sullivan started working with Leargas in 2009 as a temp, becoming a permanent employee in the accounts department in 2016. As a result of the review, her employment with Leargas was terminated.

The garda agreed with defence counsel that O’Sullivan didn’t give any trouble during the investigation and her plea was of assistance to the prosecution.

It was further accepted that an independent audit found a number of weaknesses in Leargas’s internal accounting systems.

O’Sullivan’s counsel said his client was experiencing a period of financial hardship at the time of her offending, in part as her son had recently started college.

She “wanted to see her son have a good life”, counsel said, adding that O’Sullivan “chose to go down the wrong route” and will have to live with the consequences.

Counsel said O’Sullivan “put her head in the sand” about her offending but is remorseful and accepts responsibility. A sum of €16,024 was also available as restitution.

A number of references, letter of apology and other documents were handed to the court. O’Sullivan is working and also supports her parents.

He asked the court not to impose an immediate custodial sentence.

Judge Orla Crowe described O’Sullivan’s blaming of other people as a “shameful course of action”.

She imposed a two-year sentence but fully suspended it on O’Sullivan entering into a bond to keep the peace and be of good behaviour.

She ordered that the €16,024 be paid to Leargas.