Manager took €450k from bank customers

A bank manager has been jailed for four years after he stole nearly €450,000 from customers to pay off a €3m debt he had run up from failed property investments.

Kevin Jarlath Mitchell, aged 54, had been working as a branch manager in ACC Bank in Kilrush when the 19-year fraud was uncovered.

He came before Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on signed pleas of guilty from the district court and confirmed seven such pleas before Judge Martin Nolan. They were accepted as sample pleas.

Mitchell, who now lives at Driminagh Road, Driminagh, pleaded guilty to charges of theft, obtaining cash and a cheque under false pretences and falsifying a DIRT compliance certificate on dates between Jan 1993 and Feb 2012.

Detective Garda Alec Cassidy told Vincent Heneghan, prosecuting, that Mitchell stole €197,000 from 78-year-old customer, John Patrick Ryan, after leading the man to believe that he had been depositing his cash in a high-interest, deposit account for 19 years.

The elderly man was under the impression that there would be €520,000 in the account, which had been legitimately opened in 1993, but closed, unbeknownst to him, in Dec 1994.

Mitchell also stole €250,000 from long-term friends and customers, Patrick and Susan Flanagan.

They believed he had invested the cash in a two-year bond that would earn the couple about 4% interest. He had in fact lodged the money in his own credit union account.

None of the cash was recovered, but ACC Bank fully reimbursed Mr Ryan and the Flanagans.

Mitchell has since handed over his €600,000 pension to compensate the bank, which has been accepted.

The court heard that since the fraud was uncovered last year, Mitchell’s marriage has broken down, he has lost his job and has left the family home in Clare.

Detective Garda Cassidy agreed with Ronan Munro, defending, that his client’s early co-operation with the gardaí greatly reduced the time spent on the investigation.

He accepted that the fraud began when Mitchell lost €80,000 after a property he bought collapsed and he had no insurance for the house.

Det Garda Cassidy further accepted that his crimes escalated as he continued to invest in property both in Ireland and abroad and he was “effectively robbing Peter to pay Paul”.

Mr Munro said there was “no excuse” for what his client did. It represented “a huge breach of trust”.

He said Mitchell is a father to five sons and effectively “exiled” himself from Kilrush when the fraud came to light and he separated from his wife.

Judge Nolan said it was a sad case as Mitchell had been a well-respected man in his local area and a trusted member of the local community.

“He sought to escape from his financial trouble by stealing from his customers and friends,” the judge said.

Judge Nolan accepted that for a man such as Mitchell prison would be very difficult but said he must impose a somewhat harsh term “for general deterrence and punishment”.