A car salesman, already on bail for theft from one UK franchised dealer group, joined another dealership and pocketed another £16,500 before getting caught.
A relationship breakdown led Lee David Arnold on a “catastrophic descent” to gambling and alcohol addictions, Jersey’s Royal Court was told, while he worked as a sales manager at Motor Mall CI on the island in 2016.
Arnold had paid cheques for £11,400 from the sale of a Honda and Peugeot into his own account while at Motor Mall, the court heard, and on another occasion gave his own bank account details for a buyer to pay £4,800 into.
After being interviewed by police, during which he admitted stealing to support a gambling habit, Arnold was released on bail. He then joined another dealer group, Freelance CI, and within three months was at it again, pocketing £16,500 from the same of two cars.
The Jersey Evening Post reports that Deputy Bailiff Tim Le Cocq described the crimes as ‘blatant breaches of trust’, and a statement from Freelance said his offending had left a ‘lasting impression on the business’.
Arnold admitted four counts of larceny as a servant and one count of embezzlement. He was jailed for a total of two years and three months.
As editor, Tim is responsible for the media content, planning and production of AM's multiple channels (AM print and digital magazines, website, social media and contributing to our events planning). He interviews and writes about as many franchised dealer groups and UK divisions of motor manufacturers as possible, to explore the issues facing UK motor retail and understand what solutions dealers and suppliers are using to overcome these.
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