Jail for carer who stole £3,000 from vulnerable man
A carer who fleeced the person he was supposed to be looking after in an ‘utterly wicked and systematic way,’ has been jailed for 20 months.
Cheru Allen took almost half of the benefits being paid into the bank account of the 35-year-old victim while pocketing £3,140 in 10 months to help feed his £50-a-day drug habit, a judge heard.
The 26-year-old worked for CareTech Community Services, an organisation that offers support and care to vulnerable people while allowing them to live as independently as possible, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.
One of Allen’s tasks was to accompany the man to the bank and assist with the withdrawal of his money before filing details of the transaction creating an audit trail, said Mr Howard Searle, prosecuting.
The victim seldom left his room and never did so after 6pm which caused concern when it was discovered in November 2016 that withdrawals had been made later in the evening, continued the prosecutor.
Inquiries revealed Allen regularly took around £150-a-time in rogue transactions using the man’s bank card and PIN number, either making an entry in the official log indicating less had been removed or taking the lot, the court heard.
The bank account of the man disclosed the tell tale time of the withdrawals, the last of which had been in February 2016.
They had started the previous April, said Mr Searle.
Allen, who left his job as a result of mental ill health, was not interviewed by police over the missing money until May last year, said Mr Stephen Cadwaladr, defending, who continued: “He is thoroughly ashamed of what he did. It was wholly out of character. He had no previous convictions.”
A probation officer's report claimed the defendant felt aggrieved by the way the victim treated him and had 'deliberately targeted' the man while Mr Cadwaladr argued he had been a good carer who turned to crime to fund his drug use.
Allen, from Dabchick Grove, Walsall pleaded guilty to theft and was jailed by Judge Barry Berlin who told him: “You had a cocaine habit and set out to steal in an utterly wicked and systematic way. This greed was a grotesque breach of trust.”
