A man who was part of a scam that defrauded six potential tenants out of almost €11,000 by getting deposits for an apartment he did not have permission to rent has been ordered to carry out community service.
Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that gardaí accept that Robert Long (32) was not the main instigator of the scheme and did not financially benefit from it. He acted as the current tenant in the Dublin apartment, while the man who acted as the landlord and took the deposits has yet to be identified by gardaí.
Long, who lived for some time in America, and with an address at Clonca Culdaff, Carndonagh, Co Donegal, pleaded guilty to six charges of theft and two charges of deception at Longboat Quay, Grand Canal Dock, in Dublin on dates between July 29th and August 1st, 2017.
The deception charges represent a sample of a total of six such offences. Long has no previous convictions and had €10,700 in court to fully compensate the victims.
The court heard on Wednesday that all apart from one of the victims has since received those funds.
Gardaí have given a further three months to allow for the remaining cash to be handed over and if that is unsuccessful the court ordered that the money can go to an appropriate homeless charity.
240 hours
Judge Melanie Greally remanded Long on bail last July having heard the evidence in the case. She considered a probation report prepared for the court before she ordered that he carry out 240 hours community service within 18 months in lieu of a two-year prison term.
The judge said it was a scam that took advantage of people desperately seeking accommodation and Long’s role had been to pose as the incumbent tenant.
However, she accepted that Long was “easily manipulated” and “was not aware of the true scale of the fraud”.
Judge Greally said it was a serious set of offences, that were pre-meditated and involved “considerable deceit” and caused “considerable stress” to the victims due to their “significant financial loss”.
The judge said she was giving Long credit for his plea of guilty, lack of previous convictions, remorse and the fact that he has since made full restitution to the injured parties.
Investigation
Garda Derek Brereton told Gráinne O’Neill BL, prosecuting, at the earlier hearing last July, that the owner of the property had rented it out through AirB&B when she became aware that a number of people were turning up at the apartment on the mistaken belief that they had rented it.
Those people affected had responded to an advert on Daft.ie and met with a man known as Jack Lyndsey at the apartment. Gardaí are satisfied that this was not the man's true name.
The victims each paid over various different cash amounts towards a deposit, signed contracts or lease agreements and were provided with keys.
They realised that they were a victim of a scam when they arrived at the apartment to move in and discovered that another person was living there.
Garda Brereton said that Long’s role was to act as the residing tenant of the property and potential tenants were informed that he was due to move out.
Gardaí secured CCTV footage from the apartment block using the timeline given by the victims and noticed Long arriving in a taxi. Contact was made with the taxi driver who advised that he had picked the man up from a local Tesco.
Gardaí then secured footage from that Tesco and noticed the suspect buying items there. They then secured a copy of a receipt from the purchase from the shop, which led them to the bank account details of the customer from which they secured an address from Long.
'Massive mistake'
Long was taken in for questioning but initially made no admissions. Having sourced legal advice he then told gardaí that he had a limited knowledge of the scam.
He said he had been depressed and lonely and was abusing both alcohol and drugs.
He described it as “a massive mistake” to get involved and said he did not take any cash. He refused to give gardaí any details of “Jack Lyndsey” as he said the man had an extremely violent history, and he was worried for his own safety.
Garda Brereton agreed with David Staunton BL, defending, that his client fully co-operated with the Garda investigation after he got advice and gardaí were satisfied that he didn’t gain financially from the scheme.
He accepted that Long befriended this other person who later used him.
Mr Staunton said his client had €10,700 in court to fully compensate the six families or couples affected by the crime.
“It was a nasty enterprise that took advantage of people who struggled to find accommodation in Dublin. It took advantage of people who were vulnerable,” Mr Staunton said.
He accepted that his client “was a cog, while not the main cog” and was willing to participate.
“He may not have the full picture himself, but he knew something was awry,” Mr Staunton told Judge Greally.
He said his client spent time as a child in America before moving back to his father’s home place in Donegal.
He said he is living in basic accommodation, but he wanted to move there to distance himself from negative peers. Long was getting treatment for depression before he got involved in this, counsel submitted to the court.
