A man who used a wire hook to fish money out of church collection boxes and was subsequently found to be involved in money laundering over €220,000, has been jailed for three years.
Cork Circuit Criminal Court heard that Chilimbar Vasile, with an address at Eagle Valley, Sarsfield Road in Wilton, Cork was arrested in January of 2021 after he was found to be in possession of bank lodgement slips and a card in a name other than his own.
He told gardaí that he had no source of income other than begging and selling the Big Issue magazine.
However, the 56-year-old owns a large house in his native Romania along with three powered cars. He also had €228,000 in an AIB bank account which was opened in the name of another person.
Vasile previously pleaded guilty to a charge that on 24 September 2019 proceeds of criminal conduct were credited to an AIB account in another name knowing or being reckless as to whether it was the proceeds of crime.
Detective Garda David Kelleher told the court that Vasile had CCTV footage on his phone from a substantial property registered in his name in Romania.
Footage showed a large volume of notes and coins in multiple denominations being counted on a kitchen table. He said that Vasile also had three powerful high-range cars in the property.
Detective Gda Kelleher said that gardaí had made enquiries through Interpol.
It was found that the extensive property owned by Vasile had been fully paid for and was not in mortgage.
The house stands on a third of an acre of land and has an annex of 20sqm and a large shed.
He said that Vasile was found to be in possession of an AIB bank card for an account in the name of another person.
It was determined that over €228,000 had passed through the account over a four-year period from 2017 to January 2021.
Vasile was receiving €455 a week in disability allowance.
He had also been in receipt of €164,000 in rent allowance over a number of years while living in Cork.
Vasile has nine previous convictions including one for stealing from churches.
He was previously convicted of stealing from church collection boxes at locations in Cloyne, Carrigtwohill, Shanagarry in Cork and in Dungarvan, Co Waterford.
The church offences occurred in 2021.
Defence counsel Siobhán Lankford, SC said that there would have been certain difficulties in terms of proving the case and that the plea of guilty was of assistance to the court.
Ms Lankford said her client had cooperated with the investigation, albeit to a limited extent.
She asked Judge Colin Daly to consider that there was a family background to the ownership of the property, that her client had 11 children and that "property [in Romania] is not as expensive as Ireland".
She said: "He has behaved himself since his arrest. It has been a salutary lesson for him. If given an opportunity to prove himself he would never engage in activity like this again."
In sentencing, Judge Daly said that an aggravating factor in the case was that Vasile was claiming social welfare payments for the duration of his offending.
He said that Vasile had registered with Revenue in 2005 but was without an employment history in this country.
However, Judge Daly said the guilty plea was a mitigating factor in the case. He also took the family circumstances and the medical difficulties of diabetes and epilepsy in to consideration when sentencing Vasile.
He said that an aggravating factor in the case was that Vasile has previous convictions for theft, deception and for handling stolen property.
Judge Daly said: "He (Vasile) was also operating the (bank) account for a substantial period of time. I cannot ignore the fact that as substantial amounts were gong in to the account he was claiming social welfare payments."
Judge Daly said that prison could be difficult for Vasile arising out of his poor command of English. Vasile has also never served a custodial sentence in this country.
Vasile was jailed for four years. The presiding judge suspended the final year of the sentence.
The money in the AIB account was seized.
