THEFT OF £3631

Grey River Argus, 8 September 1939, Page 10

THEFT OF £3631

WATTS CHARGED His Loan “Scheme” , REMARKABLE TRANSACTIONS. [Per Press Association!. > AUCKLAND, September 7. Arrested, on warrant, on a Motueka fruit farm, on Sunday, August 20. Eric , Stanley Watts, 37, insurance agent, was charged, on remand, in the P° lic e ! Court, that, between June, 19.j8, ana February, 1939, he stole sums o money amounting to £2,722 belonging [ to Thomas Arthur Taylor, also, on . nine other charges, that he stole from ’ other persons sums ranging from £-o 1 to £312. The total amount which accused was charged with stealing was 1 631 1 Several witnesses gave evidence, ’ and some, cross-examined by Mr L. K. ! Munro, who appeared for Watts, said ! that they did not see any of the insur- • ance policies on which they advanced 1 money. Other witnesses said that ; they expected a profit of 121 per cent. on the money handed to Watts. > Detective-Sergeant Walsh, in reply to Munro, said that Watts had beei very frank and had given all possible . help to the police. . Watts, who pleaded guilty to al charges, was committed by Mr Mc- ; Kean, S.M., to the Supreme Court, for Se ?n e a Ce statement he made to Detec- ’ tive Slater, which the police produc- ! ed, Watts said he was married, with ■ one child. He became an agentJoi ' the Temperance and General Assur ’ ance Society at Auckland, in July, ' 1931, on a commission basis. Later ■ he was appointed to the staff at a ' salary of £3/10/- weekly, plus £1 ex- ! penses, and commission. 1 About 1935 he stated, he was ow- ■ ing about £3O for betting transac1 tions. He approached a friend for a ’ loan to buy an insurance policy, > which was shortly due to mature, ■ and had a loan on it, the interest ol ’ which, if repaid, would entitle him ■ to commission of 12i per cent, which ihe would share with his friend. He was then betting on racehorses in ; small amounts and was able to pay •|his way. He only obtained occasion- : al loan's in the manner described when ! he got into debt. . “About July, 1937,” the statement : proceeded, “I commenced to bet : heavily on horses through commission agents. I have no idea as to the ' identity of any bookmaker who re- ■ ceived any of this money. I started • betting £2 each way on a horse at a time. The bets increased when I was losing, until I had as much as £5O each way on a horse at a time. I ap-] proached various friends with a scheme, which allowed me to raise money to pay the commission agents,] and I told my friends that there were, policies maturing in a few weeks’’ time, held in the office, which had loans, and interest amounts owing on them. I offered them 12J per cent commission. There were no such policies held at, or by, the office. As time went on, and these supposed policies matured, I then had to approach other people in order to repay these moneys.” • Watts said that, after he had repaid the first of these loans, plus commission, he had no trouble in obtaining further bigger amounts. The scheme got bigger and bigger. He was still losing money on racenorses. ‘ The scheme took up most of his time,' and he was neglecting his position] with the Society. In order to show that the Society was getting new business, he signed up various friends for new policies on the understanding that he would pay the first year's premium. In that way he spent ■ about £5OO in about two years. | In October, 1937, he opened an account with the Union Bank of Aus-] tralia, at Newton. Between October, 1937, and March, 1939, he put through 1 the account approximately £93,900. Of that, about £17,000 had been used for betting transactions, and the balance on repaying loans at their maturity dates. | On March 8 last, he said, being pressed for money, he left Auckland with only £6. He obtained a position on a fruit farm, at Motueka, under’ the name of “Stanley Bray.” When he left Auckland, he was owing’ £26,000. The bulk of the £93,900 that went through his banking accourft i was for transactions with one man. Although he still owed him a large! amount of money, the profits that he had received from previous transactions would about offset the amount, owing to him. About £BO,OOO of the amount put through his banking account, would be for transactions with that man. He had no money left.