A MAN who stole €318,000 from a bank employee after a kidnapping bluff, will be sentenced today at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Gardaí arrested Tony Quinn (30) after he had collected the bag of cash from a railway line, near Broombridge railway station.
Det Sgt Robert O’Reilly revealed a Permanent TSB staff member had taken the money from her Phibsboro branch with permission after she’d been made to believe a gang had kidnapped her partner.
The detective told Dominic McGinn, prosecuting, that two ESB employees working on cables in the Broombridge station area grew suspicious when they noticed a woman heave a large leather bag over a fence. They phoned emergency services when they saw Quinn retrieve it.
Det Sgt O’Reilly said he had already dispatched unmarked Garda cars to the area, and had arrested Quinn as he ran off with the bag.
Quinn, of Park View, Park Close, Ballymun, pleaded guilty to theft of €318,000 at Permanent TSB, Phibsboro on September 22nd, 2009. He has no previous convictions.
Det Sgt O’Reilly told Mr McGinn the bank employee had arrived at her branch in a “hysterical state” asking to speak with the assistant manager so she could get €400,000 required for her partner’s safe release.
The criminals behind the operation phoned the woman while the assistant manager negotiated with the bank’s head office, and told her to drop the money near Broombridge railway station.
The woman stayed in the area until she saw Quinn retrieve the bag. Det Sgt O’Reilly said Quinn had been sweating and out of breath as he ran from the scene with the bag, and told arresting officers he had been forced to collect the cash over a drug debt.
He co-operated with gardaí and admitted there had been no kidnapping while he was detained in custody for a week.
Det Sgt O’Reilly agreed with Felix McEnroy, defending, that his client had been a “serious drug addict” at the time of the offence, which was consistent with how he had appeared on arrest.
The detective further agreed Quinn was the only person to have been prosecuted in the case to date, and that gardaí were investigating threats made to his family.
Mr McEnroy submitted to Judge Martin Nolan that his client should be treated as a first-time offender because of his previous clean record.
He said his client has been trying to get off drugs and to rehabilitate himself.
Mr McEnroy further submitted that Quinn had a good work history and strong family support.
Judge Nolan commented that this was a case in which money was “bluffed” out of a bank by terrifying an employee.
He put the matter back for sentencing today.