TK Maxx worker stole £17k worth of clothes to pay off gambling debts
A TK Maxx employee, who systematically stole £17,000 worth of clothes and accessories from the warehouse where he worked, has been spared jail.
Rafal Matysiak turned to crime to repay £20,000 of debts run up on credit cards and loans to fund his gambling addiction, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.
Bosses monitored his movements on internal CCTV for six days after a tip off and watched him take goods valued at £9,679, explained Miss Samantha Powis, prosecuting.
When the surveillance started on May 30 last year they saw him vault over an empty pallet into the racking area where spare stock was kept and he was banned from entering.
The 33-year-old went in and out nine times, taking items with him to the locker room on each occasion, continued the prosecutor.
Then he transferred the goods from his locker to his car at the end of the shift.
Photographs taken of the stock before he started work were compared to those showing what remained after he had finished helped to assess how much had been stolen.
This was repeated on six consecutive days after which he was questioned and admitted stealing from his employer for 18 months.
The defendant explained it started with him putting items he thought nobody wanted in a bin which he took home but gradually graduated to more expensive goods.
He estimated the total value of the haul at around £17,000, a figure neither agreed nor disputed by the prosecution because there were no official records.
He sold at cut price to ensure fast sales – for instance a £250 handbag cost £30, the court heard.
The Polish-born father of three, who was of previous good character, was deeply ashamed of his behaviour, wanted to repay TK Maxx and had taken significant steps to change his lifestyle, maintained Mr Robert Tolhurst, defending.
Matysiak has got another job with a firm that knows of the thefts and has handed all responsibility for the family finances to his wife while she has put a tracker on his phone to keep check on where he is.
He is also blocked from on line gambling, added Mr Tolhurst.
The defendant, from Caledonia Close, Walsall, admitted theft by an employee between January 2017 and June 2018 and was given a 12 month prison sentence suspended for two years.
He must attend rehabilitation courses and do 120 hours unpaid work for the community.
Judge Amjad Nawaz said: “People act completely out of character when in the throes of an addiction.”
