Man stole €100k and gave it to chatroom ‘friends’

A man stole more than €100,000 from his employer and gave it to men he met online in chatrooms.

Man stole €100k and gave it to chatroom ‘friends’

A man stole more than €100,000 from his employer and gave it to men he met online in chatrooms.

Billy Mooney took thousands of euro at a time from The Cope stores in Co Donegal over a period of almost two years. Mooney appeared at Letterkenny Circuit Court, where he pleaded to 18 charges of fraud.

The 52-year-old did not receive a cent from the €102,180 he stole in a complex fraud at the retail chain’s office in the village of Annagry in west Donegal.

Instead, he sent the money to men he had met online in chatrooms.

The men had claimed they desperately needed the cash for a variety of reasons, including having sick relatives and also losing their jobs.

Mooney, of St Peter’s Terrace, Dungloe, took the money from the company but managed to cover his tracks before wiring it by Western Union Transfer to various people he had met online.

However, management at the company, known officially as the Templecrone Co-operative Agricultural Society Ltd (The Cope), was alerted to the fraud when Mooney sent texts to another employee.

Mooney told the employee he was in trouble, having become caught up in a scam, and was in debt to the tune of up to €80,000 and was having to borrow money.

Detective Garda John Gallagher, from Milford Garda Station, investigated the fraud at the store which has around 110 employees.

He said CEO of the company, Mark Sharkey, had contacted gardaí believing there had been a major fraud at the outlet. Garda Gallagher said Mooney took the money which was due to be deposited into an ATM machine at the Annagry branch of The Cope where he was located.

However, through a series of cover-ups, Mooney was able to extract various sums of money but made it appear as if they were still on the company books. The court heard how Mooney stole lump sums of money between July 1, 2014, and January 1, 2016, of between €2,000 and €19,800.

In a victim impact statement, Mr Sharkey said the theft had put the company under severe pressure and it had struggled to survive.

He said a number of key employees had left the company because of the stress and the shock of the ongoing situation at the company and that they also had to spend €16,000 to have a forensic accountant examine their accounts. He said that, during and since the theft, Mooney had never apologised to the company or his fellow workers and that he was out sick for a number of months after the theft came to light.

Barrister for the accused, John McLaughlin, said he got involved in these chatrooms with other men and in his mind he was in a romantic relationship.

Judge John Aylmer adjourned the case until Wednesday for sentence.

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