DENTIST ADMITS DEFALCATIONS

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 685, 10 June 1929, Page 1

DENTIST ADMITS DEFALCATIONS

Systematic Pilfering Disclosed EMPLOYER ROBBED FOR FOUR YEARS

NINE charges of theft, goiug as far hack as 1924 and involving sums totalling against Vincent Walter Morley at the Police Court this morning. He pleaded guilty and was committed to the Supreme Court for sentence. In evidence, detectives engaged on the case said that they had interrogated accused on 30 charges.

VINE charges of failing to account to Frederick John Rayner were brought, and the dates of ike offences were said to extend from November, 1924, to February 15, 1929, a week before accused had left the employ of Dr. Rayner, for whom he had acted for 11 years as manager of the American Dental Parlours. May 27 was given by Detective-Ser-geant Kelly as the date when he and Detective-Sergeant Doyle had arrested Morley on a charge of stealing £6 13s. He had denied that he knew anything of the affair, and was taken to the detective office, where witness had interviewed him concerning 30 other charges. Morley had admitted the theft of amounts totalling £248 and in each case there had been givt% a receipt for the money. In answer to Mr. Inder for Morley, the detec-tive-sergeant said that accused had assisted the police in every possible way. Detective-Sergeant Doyle corroborated the evidence of the previous witness. MORLEY SUSPECTED According to Anna Jane Young, secretary to Dr. Rayner, Morley was in sole charge of the dental parlours at a salary of £ll a week. He had been in the business about ten years and had left on February 23 last. What had first drawn suspicion on Morley was the fact that after he had left the receipts of the business had gone up rapidly. “The week after he left the receipts were three times as much as the week before,” continued witness.

It was customary for patients to pay a deposit on work to be done and their names would then go through the books. Witness had. iu many iD stances, been unable to trace any record of the work beiug completed. Receipts had been traced to show that further payments had been made, but. there was no other record of the amounts being paid in. Miss Young described the cash-receiving machine which issued one receipt and retained a duplicate and triplicate. The receipts given by Morley must have been slipped out of the machine and filled in in writing. Witness told the court of one receipt that had been originally given a patient for a deposit and which was afterwards found to have been altered when tho patient had paid in the balance. “The total amount for which I can trace receipts is £248,” added witness. Chief-Detective Hammond produced a cheque book and asked witness to explain why there was a cheque made out to Morley and the butt made out to the dental parlours. Mr. Inder pointed out that Miss Young was not. in a position to give an explanation but he was prepared to admit that Morley had been asked to make out the cheque by one of the patients and had paid it in to his own account. A statement made by Morley. who was In his own dental parlours at Dominion Road terminus when arrested, was produced by the detectives In it Morley made a full admission of the defalcations with which he was charged. Mr. Inder said that he would not ask for bail.