A greedy petrol station cashier who embezzled more than £75,000 by faking scratchcard wins has been jailed.
Carol-Anne Scroggie admitted siphoning off the huge sum and pocketing the cash while working at Watermill Filling Station in Fraserburgh.
Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard the 31-year-old took advantage of her position by putting non-existent lottery scratchcard wins through the system before keeping the cash for herself.
When she was eventually caught and confronted by the petrol station’s owners, Scroggie said she started embezzling the cash after getting into financial difficulties but continued “due to greed”.
Fiscal depute Brian Young told the court at a previous hearing that Scroggie began working at the service station in 2013.
In 2019, the owner noticed financial figures for the premises were not “as they were expected to be”.
As a result, an accountant was consulted and it was noted the discrepancy was caused by National Lottery transactions.
Part of Scroggie’s duties included making payments to customers who presented winning scratchcards, with the sums later reclaimed from the National Lottery.
Mr Young said: “Using CCTV and monitoring the transactions, the owner established that the accused was paying out when she had not in fact been presented with a winning scratchcard and thereafter keeping the money paid out for herself.
“A pattern was established where the accused would carry out these transactions towards the end of her shift when she was balancing the till for the evening.”
Between January 1 2017 and November 24 2019, Scroggie embezzled a total of £75,320.52.
On November 24 2019, the owner’s daughter monitored CCTV as Scroggie worked alone at the shop.
She saw her make a payment of £300 through a lottery payout transaction while there was nobody else in the store.
The owner and another daughter then confronted Scroggie.
Mr Young said: “The accused initially denied any wrongdoing, however, eventually withdrew the £300 from her pocket, together with a receipt bearing a transaction reading ‘Lottery Paid Out – £300’.
“She admitted having carried out the transactions over a number of years, initially due to money problems but subsequently due to greed.”
Despite having caught Scroggie red-handed, the owner initially gave her the opportunity to pay the money back but, following a lack of contact, eventually reported the matter to the police.
Scroggie, of St Andrews Drive, Fraserburgh, admitted a charge of embezzlement.
‘A perfect storm of personal difficulty’
Defence solicitor Sam Milligan described his client’s situation at the time as “a perfect storm of personal difficulty”.
He added: “If the court follows the suggestion of making my client subject to a custodial sentence then there would be repercussions for others in that she is a full-time carer.
“She has no offending record prior to, or after this incident.”
Sheriff Graham Buchanan told Scroggie: “This is obviously a serious matter for a number of reasons.
“It involves a significant breach of trust and the substantial sum of just over £75,000, while the conduct lasted over three years.
“You are also not able to offer any repayment.
“The court must do all it can to stop people behaving like this towards their employer.”
Sheriff Buchanan sentenced Scroggie, of St Andrews Drive, Fraserburgh, to a period of imprisonment of 16 months.
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