A former shop assistant at Currys in Titchfield Common was today (January 4) given a suspended jail sentence after refunding customer purchases on to his own gift card that he then used in the store.
Alexander Marlo Schlebusch ran what magistrates described as a “well-planned and sophisticated” fraud between July 2011 and June 2012 at the electrical superstore in Southampton Road.
Schlebusch, 28, of Northmore Road, Park Gate, had denied nine charges of fraud totalling £1,669.96, but was found guilty by magistrates at an earlier hearing. The amounts ranged from £60 to £359.99 on each occasion.
At his sentencing today Fareham magistrates were told that Schlebusch breached his trust as an employee at the store.
Prosecutor Noel Watkins said that after customers had bought goods at the store Schlebusch than organised a refund of the money they had spent on to his own gift card and to his credit card.
The store found a disparity in financial figures, so tracked who was working on what tills and the dates and times to discover the fraud.
Chair of the Magistrates Patricia Owen said that because Schlebusch was an employee the fraud was a breach of trust and that it was sophisticatedly planned and over a period of time.
She sentenced him to six weeks in prison, suspended for one year. Schlebusch was also given a community order to carry out 120 hours of unpaid work and to pay £250 towards the Crown Prosecution Service costs.