A charity worker took more than £11,000 in cash from two Orkney men with learning difficulties.
Pamela Anderson abused her position with Enable Orkney to syphon cash from the bank accounts of the individuals.
She told police the stresses of her job resulted in her becoming involved in a cycle of drink, drugs and offending.
Anderson admitted embezzling a total of £11,602 from the two men between August 2019 and July 2020 at Kirkwall Sheriff Court.
At the time she was working on the island for the charity, initially as a team facilitator and then as a services manager.
Procurator fiscal Sue Foard said Enable Scotland supports people with learning difficulties.
Suspicions that something was amiss first arose in her dealings with the finances of the 44-year-old victim.
He had previously been taken advantage of by a private individual so his bank card had been held at the charity’s office, though only he knew of the pin number.
Following lockdown, the system was changed and the card was kept securely locked at his home.
But Anderson thought this could lead to further problems and the card was again kept in the office.
Ms Foard said it is assumed she obtained his PIN number and would make withdrawals and give him cash when he needed it.
Care worker noticed bank discrepancies
Discrepancies first emerged when the man’s care worker came across his bank statement while tidying up his house on April 22, 2020.
She noted there had been eight withdrawals for a total of more than £1000 on consecutive days the previous month.
After being told about the activity, Anderson said she would check with the bank.
She later said the bank would take up to 60 days to investigate.
The following month, there were 11 withdrawals of between £100 and £200, totalling about £1800. A total of £2720 was taken out in June 2020.
Ms Foard continued to insist the bank was investigating and pretended that she had contacted her boss about the issue.
By the end of July, the account had been drained and a direct debit payment of £133 for electricity bounced.
Ms Foard said the care worker then approached the bank, which advised her to contact the police.
Anderson meanwhile phoned in sick and texts and emails to her from her regional manager went unanswered.
CCTV footage between March 18 and July 23 showed that she had made 48 withdrawals from cashpoint dispensers in Kirkwall, totalling £8500.
Taking account of cash spent legitimately, £6952 was taken by fraud.
Second man targeted by charity worker
It was then discovered Anderson had also raided the account of a 64-year-old service user.
The man’s card had also been locked, along with the pin number, in a drawer in the charity’s office.
Anderson misused the card to make 31 withdrawals, totalling £5950, between August 19, 2019 and March 4, 2020.
She was found to have taken £4650 for her own use.
When interviewed by police in Oban in September 2020, she said: “I worked with Enable in Orkney. I took money from service users.”
Anderson said she had previously worked for another charity where she had been bullied and harassed.
She said she had found the Enable Scotland job stressful with unsupportive colleagues.
Ms Foard said: “She painted a picture of feeling very stressed in her role.
Drink and drugs cycle caused ‘disgusting’ behaviour
“She said she took to drink and drugs to help her and when she started taking the money, the cycle continued and it got out of control.
“She considered what she had done as disgusting.”
The court heard that Anderson, a first offender, has saved £6000 towards repaying what she took.
Sentence on Anderson, of Glencruitten Drive, Oban, was deferred until July for a community justice social work report.
A spokeswoman for ENABLE Scotland said procedures around users’ funds have been reviewed in the wake of this case.
She said: “Whilst we would not comment on an ongoing case, we can confirm that ENABLE supported the police investigation and that the accused is no longer an employee.
“We have undertaken a full review of our financial policies and procedures for management of third-party funds, and provided additional staff training in this area.
“These financial arrangements are monitored internally and are now also independently verified by external auditors.”
