Following a trial by jury in the Grand Court from the 16th to the 18th, and the 20th April, 2012, a 28 year old George Town man was found guilty of theft involving stolen money to the value of US$29,987.33. The money belonged to Kevin Barcant who had been a customer of the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) since 1982, and had held it at the bank on a term deposit for his wife and his five adult children. The Defendant was also found guilty of false accounting where he dishonestly and with a view to gain for himself, falsified a term Deposit Letter of Instruction used for accounting purposes, by falsifying the client’s signature.

The George Town man had been an employee of RBC for three years and by Sept. 2009 held the post of Personal Financial Services Representative. He had been assigned the Barcant account that had been inactive for many years.

The theft came to light when Mr. Barcant came to the bank to talk about his account and discovered the account had been closed. When Barcant asked the Defendant for the file it could not be found.

Not only was the client’s original file not found, but, in addition, the file the Defendant said he had created eleven (11) days earlier, on the 14th September  2009, when, according to the Defendant,  someone claiming to be Heidi Barcant  came to him to close the Term Deposit, was also never found. On that “14th September 2009 file” the Defendant said he placed a copy of the term deposit,  Heidi  Barcant’s personal information form, and, a copy of the bank draft.

The evidence, though, showed that Mr. Barcant’s daughter, Heidi Knagggs, had not called herself  “Barcant” for over 21 years, and she had never been to the Cayman Islands.

The account holder has been refunded the full amount of his money by RBC.

The defendant then created a fictitious couple, whom he attempted to blame for the crime.

Justice Charles Quin, the presiding judge, noted the Defendant refused to accept his guilt in the case. He said, “Despite the Defendant’s Counsel Mr. John Furniss ‘s great experience and his hard work on the Defendant ‘s behalf there were more aggravating factors than mitigating ones in the case.”

Although the case also revealed that many of the procedures at the bank put in place to prevent this type of fraud were lax and were easily breached by the Defendant, the Judge said, “a bank relies fundamentally on the integrity of the people it employs,  and the Defendant has clearly failed to honour his commitment to his employer,  and to his employer’s clients, in this regard.

“The Defendant has let his colleagues down.

“In particular, the Defendant has let down his parents who, it is clear, tried to ensure that the Defendant had access to a good education and many other opportunities. Finally, and probably most importantly, the Defendant, as a 28-year old man, with dependents, has let himself and his young family down.”

The sentencing guidelines provided for a sentence of between 12 months to four years for a crime of this nature, and although the Defendant pleaded not guilty and therefore could expect no discount, it was his first dishonesty offence, and because he was relatively young when he committed the crime, Justice Quin said he had revised his initial three year sentence down to 2.5 years. The Defendant was given an additional 12 months, to run concurrently, for false accounting and ordered to reimburse RBC for the full amount he stole.

The Judge told the Defendant, “I urge you to ensure that this dishonest criminal act is never repeated. When you complete your time in prison you are in the fortunate position of having immediate employment. You are still a young man, and I also urge you to concentrate on your work, concentrate on looking after your young family and on showing some gratitude for the unconditional help and support you have received from your parents.”