'Apartment scam' criminal handed suspended sentence

A Polish national whose €28,100 Dublin city centre "apartment scam" left some foreign nationals living on the streets has been given an 18-month suspended sentence by Judge Patricia Ryan.

Leszek Mikulski (aged 27) with an address at Jamestown Park, Ratoath, Co Meath pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to 14 charges of theft on dates between February and March 2007.

The case had been adjourned on a number of occasions to allow Mikulski to gather compensation to reimburse his victims a total of €28,100 he stole from them by taking rent money for apartments leased at Usher’s Quay and Wellington Quay, using false names and contact details.

Defence counsel, Mr Michael Bowman BL, who previously described Mikulski’s behaviour as "ill-informed, ill-advised and ultimately illegal" told Judge Ryan that his client had now gathered the full compensation for his victims.

Mr Bowman Judge Ryan said the court accepted this compensation and the "genuine apology to his victims" by Mikulski who she was told had trained in the Polish Air Force for some years before coming to Ireland.

Detective Garda Desmond Rogers told prosecution counsel, Mr Shane Costelloe BL, that a foreign national called to Pearse Street Garda Station on March 20 last year to complain that money had been taken from him.

He said he had signed a lease agreement for an apartment on Wellington Quay and handed over a deposit as well as a month’s rent in advance. He was given keys for the apartment and told to return a few days later to move in but when he arrived he couldn’t gain access to it.

Det Gda Rogers said the complainant told gardaí that his friend was due to meet a man they believed was the same person advertising the apartment on a website.

Gardaí went to the apartment with the two men and Mikulski answered the door. He was arrested for theft after he admitted he was in the process of falsely letting the apartment.

Det Gda Rogers told Mr Costelloe that a large number of leasing agreements were found in the apartment and Mikulski was told to bring these with him to the station.

Mikulski told gardaí it was his intention to see how many people would be interested in the apartment, lease it to one and then try and find other similar apartments for the unsuccessful tenants.

Det Gda Rogers said nine other people came to the station on the same day complaining that they too had handed over a deposit and a month’s advance rent after signing a lease agreement for an apartment on Usher’s Quay but when they arrived there to move in the keys would not work.

The registered landlord of that apartment had advised them to go to the gardaí.

Det Gda Rogers said that the bogus name and contact details on the lease agreements meant that none of the people were able to get in touch with Mikulski who took a total of €17,200 from the nine people.

Det Gda Rogers told Mr Costello that €16,810 of the Usher’s Quay apartment money taken by Mikulski, was later found in his luggage after he told gardaí they could find it there.

Garda Wesley Kelly told Mr Costello he took complaints from five different people who had handed over a total of €10,900 to Mikulski for the apartment on Wellington Quay.

They had contacted the garda station in February but because Mikulski used another false name and address on their lease agreements, gardaí were not able to track him down at the time.

Mikulski made no admissions in relation to the apartment in Wellington Quay but was later identified by his victims after gardaí showed them a number of different ‘photo fits’.

Gda Kelly agreed with Mr Bowman, that Mikulski told him it was never his intention to harm these people and agreed to refund them "if they are out of pocket because of my actions".

Mikulski was originally remanded in custody in March 2007 but was granted bail last August when Judge McDonnell was told he would reside at the Ratoath address and a Swords restaurant owner gave evidence of having a job for him so that he could raise the compensation.

Det Gda Rogers agreed with Mr Bowman that Mikulski also handed over false identity papers he used to come to Ireland. He had no previous convictions and had come to Ireland from Poland three and half years ago.

He claimed it was never his intention to leave Ireland after he had ‘scammed’ the money because he had a €6,000 credit card debt in Poland. His plan was to rent out as many apartments as possible and take a cut from it to help pay off his debts and cover his own rent.

Det Gda Rogers further agreed that Mikulski had suggested that this represented more of "a half-baked business plan" because he only tried to lease out two apartments.

Mr Bowman handed in documents previously which indicated Mikulski owed €14,800 and had a phone bill of €7,329 in addition to his credit card debt. He had run up debts with DJs and a security company after holding a number of events for the Polish community in Ireland.