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Secretary Swipes Staff Friendly Society Savings
Over 500 members were left out of pocket and struggling to deal with pending Mortgagee sales and other unpaid bills after the secretary of the Auckland Regional Staff Friendly Society, Shelly Donald stripped the organization of very nearly every cent. $260,000 was stolen and spent by Donald in the 3 years that she was with the society, leaving it in a state of financial ruin.
Auckland Regional Staff Friendly Society was set up to provide savings, bill payments, budgeting and funeral finances services to its members. Memberships rose to 535 before the society collapsed under the strain of Donald’s personal spending. After being employed in September 1996 as the organisation’s secretary in control of finances, Shelly Donald used her position of trust and responsibility to steal on at least 250 occasions, meanwhile doctoring the books to hide her indiscretions.
With her personal finances in a mess, Shelly Donald would use the money to pay bills, living with the justification that she would pay the money back. By the time she was no longer able to hide the thefts, the society was pennyless, and forced to close.
In a short length of time Shelly Donald had spent at least $260,000 with nothing to show for it. Members were left shocked and floundering, trying to deal with unpaid mortgages and car payments that were meant to have been paid by the society.
It seemed incomprehensible that the $260,000 had been spent without trace in a 3-year period. Even the judge at Ms Donald’s trail expressed disbelief that the money had been flittered away with no trace.
On February 12, 2001 in the Auckland District Court, 38 year old Shelly Margaret Donald was convicted of 250 thefts and sentenced to 3 years jail.
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Almost all the members of the Auckland Regional Staff Friendly Society were left out of pocket and struggling to deal with pending mortgagee sales and unpaid bills after the secretary of the organisation stripped it of very nearly every cent. |
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