Saint-Jean-de-Livet. Treasurer hijacks € 230,000: six months in prison

Accounting secretary of the Girl Scouts and Scouts of France, a 45-year-old woman has been accused of embezzling € 230,000 in three years. She is given six months in prison.

"I betrayed trust. It started small. After, it was the gear! This 45-year-old woman, summoned for the first time in her life before a correctional court, did not seem, Tuesday, October 8, 2019, to take full measure of the seriousness of what she is accused of.

Hired in 2012 as secretary, elected treasurer to the works council (EC) of the vacation service of Éclaireurs de France in Colombelles, she hijacked in three years, from June 2014 to September 2017, hijacked € 98,473 to the association and 130 725 € to the EC. It took advantage of the trust of its hierarchy on account management to divert first sums of less than 300 €, bank transfers that went unnoticed on an annual budget of three million euros. " It was easy. I continued. » 5 488 € are thus diverted then, by stealing checks which it falsifies and imitating the signature of her superiors, she still pockets nearly 71 000 € to the detriment of the association. At the EC, she diverted 130 725 € and a laptop.

She explains this drift by her psychological situation of the time. The presiding judge does not believe in a loss of common sense. "The expenses, with the exception of a camper, were not extravagant and are not justified by a disturbed state. "

The defendant, from Saint-Jean-de-Livet, transferred the sums diverted to her account and to the account of a society she had created to organize leisure activities. She acquired a house, vehicles.

Catastrophic financial situation

The association has its first suspicions in November 2017. The investigation then advances quite quickly and allows to peel the accounts and assets of the secretary-accountant. It presents a catastrophic financial situation, with a strong over-indebtedness. Heard, she recognizes everything except the falsification of a check of € 2,115. After her custody, she empties a savings account of € 3,500 to avoid seizure.

The prosecutor stresses how "she put in the red the accounts of an association that has values, which defends a noble cause," assuring that it has created its company on purpose. "It was an organized mechanics. All responsibility slips on it. She imputes it to a third party. " He rejects the state of necessity: " She had a salary higher than the average salary of the French ! "

For the defense, "she took advantage of the general carelessness" in the accounting of the association, portraying a young woman "fragile psychologically".

The court sentenced her to two years' imprisonment, of which eighteen months suspended, with a two-year probation, with an obligation to make good the € 98,473 loss plus € 1 of moral damages for her life. association and 600 € of court costs, as well as 130 725 € of financial damage, plus 1 € of moral damage and 600 € of legal fees for the EC.

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