SK - VLTs fed theft at RCMP canteen
Jana G. Pruden, The Leader-Post, Tuesday, December 12, 2006
With police officers all around, a veteran canteen employee at Regina’s RCMP Academy made hundreds of fraudulent transactions and stole more than $187,000 to feed a VLT addiction, a Regina court heard on Monday.
Marlowe K. Lang, 42, has pleaded guilty to theft over $5,000 and is expected to be sentenced later this month by Provincial Court Judge Linton Smith.
Speaking in court on Monday, Crown prosecutor Chris Sabat said Lang had worked at the RCMP canteen for 19 years when a manager discovered a $465 transaction, which seemed unusually high for canteen items.
When the manager confronted staff –including Lang — about the suspicious transaction, the thefts stopped.
But a further review of the canteen’s operation turned up more questionable transactions, many of which took place in the early morning before the canteen was even open.
A full forensic audit found 721 irregular sales over a period of 21/2 years, all of which took place while Lang was at work and none of which occurred when he was off.
The scam involved a system of false sales and returns and some of the transactions credited money to Lang’s debit or credit cards.
The total value of the phoney transactions was $187,474, which Sabat said Lang has agreed to pay back in $20 instalments every month.
“At that rate of return Mr. Lang would make full repayment in about 781 years,” Sabat told court.
Lang’s lawyer, James Rybchuk, said Lang can now increase those payments to $80 per month, which would repay the theft in just under 200 years.
Most of the stolen money went “very quickly to one VLT or another,” Rybchuk said.
Rybchuk is asking that his client receive a community-based sentence of six to 12 months, part of which could be served on house arrest. Sabat is seeking 12 to 18 months in jail.
While the courts have traditionally made some allowances for criminal acts motivated by addictions, Sabat argued Lang’s gambling addiction was not overly severe, noting Lang gambled only on weekends and stopped stealing money after the confrontation with his manager made him realize he may be caught.
Lang also continued to pay household bills while the thefts were occurring and made RRSP contributions, Sabat told court.
But while Lang may not have gambled away all his family’s assets, Rybchuk said Lang’s addiction was still serious.
“His gambling was persistent and reoccurring,” Rybchuk said, noting Lang played VLTs at every opportunity and lied to his wife about how much he was gambling.
Rybchuk said Lang is on the verge of bankruptcy and “humiliated beyond belief.”
“So he has suffered and will continue to suffer quite a bit,” Rybchuk said.
The canteen where Lang worked is a non-profit business run by civilians working on contract for the RCMP. Profits from the venture go to the RCMP and are used for training, community and charitable events.
© The Leader-Post (Regina) 2006
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