Man stole £19k of hard drives from delivery firm DPD to pay off debts
A cash-strapped courier service company team leader who turned to crime to make ends meet has been spared jail.
Konrad Prusinski had been in full employment since arriving in this country from Poland 14 years ago.
His hard work saw him promoted to lead a team of stock handlers at the DPD distribution centre in Roebuck Lane, Smethwick, a judge heard.
But the 37-year-old was struggling to repay personal debts and started taking solid state Samsung hard drives from the depot in his pocket at the end of a shift, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.
The defendant linked up with an eBay account holder who sold them on the internet and split the sale price with Prusinski.
The scam was uncovered by a stock check launched after the owner of the goods went into administration last year, revealed Mr Geoffrey Dann, prosecuting.
This discovered a large number of empty boxes that should have been filled with Samsung hard drives and prompted an internal investigation.
Inquiries revealed that a person selling them through eBay lived in Redditch, not far from Prusinski’s home.
DPD investigators swooped on their employee’s address in December last year and he confessed to being the culprit.
He handed over a carrier bag containing nine of the stolen items and allowed them to search every room in the house, explained Ms Chloe Griggs, defending.
He admitted stealing about 20 of the hard drives worth £5,500 and conceded: “I knew I would get caught.”
DPD valued the total number of those missing at £19,000 but Mr Dann explained: “He denies taking any more and this cannot be proved against him so they were either stolen by others or disappeared.”
The company said thefts damaged their reputation and made businesses think twice about trusting goods in transit with it, concluded the prosecutor.
Ms Griggs said Prusinski was now working long hours as a self-employed driver and had saved £3,000 which was close to the excess paid by the company on the insurance claim, the court heard.
Prusinski, from Aspall Close, Redditch, pleaded guilty to theft by employee and was given a 12-month community order with a course of rehabilitation on condition he paid the £3,000 compensation within 14 days.
