Gambling Addict Who Stole €1.75m Gets Three Years
December 21st, 2012 Author: A. Mitchell
A gambling addict who stole €1.75m from his employer to fund his habit has just been handed a three year prison sentence by the Wexford Circuit Court in Ireland.Tony O’Reilly, 37, started working for ‘An Post’ in 1998 and by 2009 had been promoted to post office manager in Gorey. However, Mr O’Reilly apparently had a gambling addiction and over the ensuing 14 month then proceeded to steal the huge sum using a variety of methods, including replacing €2 post office bags with 2c bags and pulling €50 notes from €50,000 bundles. In order to cover his tracks he would then falsify receipts, including one for €97,538 he changed to €397,538.
After gambling away €1.75 million of the post office’s money, Tony O’Reilly’s antics finally caught up with him following a regional audit at the Gorey garda station in Wexford. On the day in question, O’Reilly texted in saying he had been involved in a car crash in Tullow and was only then located 11 days later.
During his post office gambling spree, Mr O’Reilly’s habit became ever more uncontrollable and eventually he was gambling $50,000 each day. At one time he even placed a €40,000 bet on a Norwegian Ladies soccer team match. Bookmakers Paddy Power also proved a major beneficiary of O’Reilly’s gambling and lavished several all-expense paid trips on him, including the Europa Cup Final in Dublin and the Irish Derby in County Kildare.
Tony O’Reilly was handed the 3 year sentence after pleading guilty to six offences of theft and 6 more of falsifying documents at the Wexford Circuit Court. Defending his client, Patrick McCarthy explained that O’Reilly did not benefit from the €1.75 million he stole and that he still lived in a modest house with his wife and two-year-old child. He also said Mr O’Reilly had stopped gambling and was now looking to become an addiction counsellor.
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