Tipton delivery driver stole £16.5k phone haul in JUST four months
A dispatch delivery driver stole mobile phones worth up to £16,500 in four months while on his rounds, a judge heard.
Christopher Parchment then sold the haul of more than 30 handsets to other criminals involved in a massive scam at £30-a-time, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.
The phones had been bought by the gang using fake bank details and names and addresses primarily in and around the Tipton area which he covered, explained Mr Kevin Jones, prosecuting.
They had been purchased from both the Carphone Warehouse and 3 and were supposedly being taken to the customers by parcel delivery firm DPD which has bases in Oldbury and Smethwick and had Parchment on the payroll, the court heard.
The 42-year-old collected the phones and signed the necessary documents to supposedly confirm that each package had been delivered to the appropriate address. In fact he handed them over to the other criminals who are still on the run.
Parchment later told police that he had been stopped in the street by some men he believed came from Nigeria, it was said. They supposedly asked if he had any phones on board his van that they could buy.
As a result of the chance meeting he was allegedly lured him into being the 'conduit' for their racket in the Tipton area. The scam operated between July and October last year before it was uncovered, said Mr Jones.
Miss Krystelle Wass, defending, said: "There were £16,500 worth of handsets involved but the benefit to him from his foolish actions was less than £1,000 and the majority of this was sent to Jamaica to pay for an operation for his sister."
She explained that the father of three was a hard working man who had found another job after being sacked by DPD. His new boss was aware of the court case but regarded him so highly as an employee that he was prepared to keep the defendant on the staff providing he was not sent to jail, continued the lawyer.
Parchment from Temple Way, Tividale pleaded guilty to theft and was given a 36 week jail sentence suspended for two years and ordered to do 240 hours unpaid work.
Judge Martin Walsh told him: "You were employed as a dispatch delivery driver and used as a conduit for stolen items to be delivered on bogus orders. These were distributed by you to others that have so far not been identified."
