A soldier who laundered over €6.5m for drug dealers has been jailed for three years.
Thirty-six-year-old Richard Kearney, from Shancastle Drive, Clondalkin in Dublin, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to having €25,000, the proceeds of crime at a rented house in Tallaght in May 2022.
Richard Kearney was a corporal in the Defence Forces when he got involved in laundering millions of euro for drug dealers.
The 36-year-old was involved with the army equestrian school and travelled to the Olympic Games as a groom for the equestrian team.
He claimed his wages dropped after he had looked for a transfer and he was struggling financially.
Around Christmas 2020 he was approached by criminals and offered a "friendly loan" but he found himself "in over his head", the threats started coming and he began laundering drugs money.
On 6 May 2022, gardaí searched the flat in Fernwood Lawn in Tallaght where he lived alone and found €10,455 in cash hidden in a bedframe and another €15,000 wrapped in clingfilm in the freezer.
His bank statements showed that he had no legitimate way of making this amount of money.
His phone also showed he was communicating with known drug dealers about locations, dates and amounts of money.
In the 13 months between April 2021 and May 2022, Kearney laundered €6.6m and £250,000 sterling.
The father of two has no previous convictions.
Judge Martin Nolan accepted that Kearney has family responsibilities, is unlikely to come before the courts again and has "many, many good points".
He set a headline sentence of six years and reduced it to three years, having taken into account the various mitigating factors in the case.
The Defence Forces said it is in the process of sacking the soldier as any conviction has implications for the retention and service of members, as stipulated in military regulations.
It said his commanding officer has initiated the proceedings for discharge and the process is ongoing.
Kearney has a right to appeal and the Defence Forces said it would therefore be inappropriate to comment further as to do so may prejudice the appeal process.
However, it also said that it "unequivocally condemns any actions by serving personnel that are contrary to military regulations or that do not reflect our values."
Kearney's defence barrister Ciara Ní Ghabhann said in court that he accepted he is a corporal with the Defence Forces and will lose that job.
