Former Mountbellew Co-Op manager pleads guilty to thefts from employers

Former manager of Mountbellew Arrabawn Co-op, 56 year old Michael Bodkin, of  Corkskeagh, Gurteen, Ballinasloe, pleaded guilty in court in December to the theft of over €57,000 worth of agricultural products from the company between 2010 and 2012.

He also pleaded guilty to wasting Garda time and to making false statements claiming someone else committed the offences.

He has now appeared for sentencing before before Galway Circuit Criminal Court.

Inspector Declan Rock, Loughrea, gave evidence at the sentence hearing that Gardai received a call from the accused on Sunday morning, July 22, 2012, that there had been a break-in at the Arrabawn Co-Op in Mountbellew.

They met Bodkin there and he showed them a broken window upstairs and said there had been a burglary.

Gardai became suspicious when they found a lock for a gate to the premises which was undamaged.

They checked back over Garda files and saw Bodkin had reported similar type burglaries in 2010 and 2011 with the same modus operandi.

Bodkin admitted everything when questioned.

Judge Rory McCabe said the probation report stated the accused posed a low risk of reoffending and he was fearful of getting a custodial sentence.

He imposed a 12-month sentence in respect of each of the theft charges to run concurrently, which he then suspended for three years.

He imposed two, concurrent six-month sentences for wasting Garda time and for making false reports, which he also suspended for three years.