A gambling addict stole parcels from his job as a delivery driver to pay his debts.
Robert Brown was employed by UPS Logistics in Nigg, Aberdeen where he was tasked with both delivering items and assigning them to others to be delivered.
But at the end of last year, his bosses became suspicious as a number of parcels he had been responsible for did not reach their intended recipient.
On December 14 they followed Brown after he left the site with parcels in his van.
Instead of heading out on deliveries, he immediately drove home and was spotted going into this house without taking anything with him.
The next day he called in sick but three days later he was followed from the site again and repeated the same trick.
On that occasion his bosses spoke to him and found five parcels he was meant to deliver inside the van.
Police were called, and after carrying out a search at his home on Alexander Terrace in Aberdeen, more parcels were discovered.
At Aberdeen Sheriff Court yesterday, the 29-year-old admitted embezzling from the firm between November and December last year.
The court heard Brown had taken the parcels to sell them on as he had built up gambling debts.
Fiscal depute Cheryl Clark said the parcels found inside the house had been ripped open and it was obvious Brown had been selling on the items.
She added: “The estimated value of the parcels is £376 but it is not known how much was in the parcels because UPS is simply a delivery company.”
Sheriff Philip Mann deferred sentence on the first offender for background reports. He will return to court next month.
A UPS spokeswoman condemned the activities of Brown.
She said: “A driver working for one of our subcontractors was suspected of theft and as a result his actions were reported to the police who found him to be in possession of UPS customer packages and he was subsequently charged.
“UPS takes the security of packages and our facilities incredibly seriously and cooperated closely with the authorities.
“The actions of this individual are not representative of our company and we have strong safeguards in place to detect and prevent theft.”
