A FORMER legal executive was jailed for three years at Limerick Circuit Court for the theft of over €260,000 from the city law firm where he was employed for over 30 years. Gary Carroll, aged 52, was embraced by his two daughters before he took his bag of belongings and was taken into custody. Judge Carroll Moran imposed the sentence in what he referred to as a “very difficult case,” as Carroll had been well regarded in the legal community for a long number of years.
Mr Carroll pleaded guilty to a total of 35 charges including two for larceny, two for embezzlement and the remaining 31 for theft over a 10 year period from 1999.
The thefts had been used to feed a major gambling addiction.
The court also heard that all the money had been lost to betting in “several gambling houses around the city”.
Prosecuting for the State, Michael Collins BL, told the court that a partner at the firm, Michael Gilroy, received a complaint from a client of the office in relation to finances connected with a property deal.
The complaint linked Gary Carroll to a transaction that had not closed.
Monies had been drawn down but the transaction was not complete.
It was stated that the partners undertook an investigation of the company accounts and in particular an AIB mortgage account with €170,000, and were concerned with the movement of two transactions of money, with €12,470 and €131,000 paid to “unconnected partners”.
Connolly Sellors and Geraghty partners, Michael Gilroy and Mr Joe Murphy, investigated the transactions and put their concerns to Carroll, who was described as a “low level debt collector”.
The partners discovered that he was in charge of accounts and one labelled “debt collection,” and that a number of cheques had been requisitioned by the accused.
Mr Carroll, when confronted about the matter, said, “I think I f**ked up,” and the court heard that he “thought about ending it all there”.
The misappropriation of funds were not picked up by any of the company’s financial audits or any banking officials during the course of the 10 years, despite the fact that Carroll did not have any official responsibilities for any form of banking on behalf of the firm.
The court heard that the firm was out pocket to the tune of €260,784, and that no client suffered any loss as the six partners at the time made good the losses to the firm.
On August 17, 2009, gardai became involved in the investigation, and on July 28, 2010, Carroll was arrested and charged in connection with the alleged thefts.
At the time of arrest, he was separated from his wife, was not living at the family home and had “no trappings of wealth” from the gambling.
Mark Nicholas, defence counsel, said it was a particularly difficult case for him, “given my own legal involvement in town”.
He said that Carroll “wasn’t salting the money away for a rainy day – he had a love for horses – there was no sophisticated cover up here,” and referred to the garda evidence that Carroll began to move money around several accounts in an effort to hide and cover his tracks.
Carroll’s two daughters were in court to support him along with representatives from the clinics helping him with his addiction and depression.
He had since lost his home, marriage and family.
“His reputation is ruined,” added Mr Nicholas.
The court heard that Carroll undertook a five week treatment course for his addiction and attends addiction meetings three times a week.
Various reports were submitted to the court to support his addiction and subsequent depression, but the court heard that his actions have cast a “shadow and shame” upon his immediate and extended family.
Mr Nicholas said Carroll was not a career criminal, and that prison life would be “a living nightmare” for him.
Judge Carroll Moran said that the aggravating factors in the case “far outweighed the mitigating ones,” and noted that not only did the partners have to bear the loss, but they also had to endure the “public tarnishing of the firm’s reputation”.
He said that Carroll had abused his position of trust, and that a “three-year concurrent prison sentence was appropriate in the matter”.
Leave to appeal was refused, and Carroll was immediately taken into custody to begin his sentence.
