WHOLESALE FRAUDS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21109, 17 February 1932, Page 6

WHOLESALE FRAUDS.

BOGUS STEWARD'S CRIMES. « CLEANING THEM ALL UP." TWO YEARS IN PRISON. An Australian confidence man, after a long period abroad, in which he was convicted on numerous occasions, appeared afc the Police Court in Sydney last Thursday and was sentenced to two years' imprisonment with hard labour by Mr. Fletcher, S.M., for false pretences. The accused was Cedric Storm, aged 39, described as a cook. -Three charges of false pretences were preferred against him. He was alleged to have obtained a fountain pen, worth 32s 6d, from a Sydney firm, by falsely pretending that a seaman's pay note produced by him was a genuine and available order drawn on Dalgety and Company, Limited. The other charges alleged that he had obtained £2 and £l2 10s by a similar pretence. Mr. Fletcher sentenced him to 12 months' imprisonment on each charge, the sentences to be cumulative. On other charges he was remanded until to-morrow. Storm was alleged to have admitted that he had "cleaned them all up" in Melbourne, Brisbane, Hobart and New Zealand recently, and also that he used to represent himself as the chief steward of a vessel called the Marion, which did nob exist. Sergeant Napper, police prosecutor, said that Storm was born in Australia and had a long list of convictions. He was well qualified for declaration as a habitual criminal. He had been convicted in North London, Cork, East Kent, Greenwich, Durham, North Shields, Belfast, Dublin, Yorkshire and Vancouver. All his convictions were for false pretences. His last was in Vancouver, where he had received six months' gaol. "When he had served his sentence he was deported to Australia. Storm, in reply to the magistrate, said that he came <rom Canada against hit wish. It was very hard to get employment in Australia. He had pawned all his belongings and could get nothing to do, so he had no alternative but to slip back into the old groove. Detective Cecil Robinson, in evidence, said that he saw Storm at the George Street North police station on February 3. While being questioned Storm said: "I know the police have been looking for me for a long while. I suppose you have dozens of those seamen's pay notes which I have cashed, but I did not get the full amounts on all of them." Witness then told Storm that the police had a number of the bogus pay notes, and several charges would be preferred against him. Storm asked, "Have you any reports from the other States?" Witness replied that the police had reports from Brisbane, Hobart, Melbourne and New Zealand. The defendant remarked, "Yes, I cleaned them all up. Anything that was got on the seamen's pay" notes I got it. I will assist you in every way and I shall plead guilty to them all." The next day witness showed Storm a nnmber of seamen's pay notes and Storm admitted that he had obtained property and money on them from different firms.