Courts / Dublin / Report

Moldovian wishes to gather compensation for ATM theft, court hears

Summary

A Moldovan plasterer, Ruslan Cornea, 38, pleaded guilty at the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to stealing €1,500 from an AIB ATM on 3 January 2015. Cornea claimed he had been given the ATM card by an unknown man he met in a casino, who promised him €150 for the withdrawal. He later told gardaí that the arrangement seemed odd in hindsight. Garda Philip Byrne explained that a genuine cheque had been altered by a third party to withdraw €6,850 from a customer's account, and that the customer was reimbursed after AIB discovered the fraud. CCTV identified Cornea making the €1,500 withdrawal, but he denied any role in lodging or modifying the cheque. Cornea has 11 prior convictions, including possession of a fraudulent cheque, unstamped cigarettes, theft, and a fake Romanian ID. His defence lawyer, Luigi Rea, noted that Cornea had arrived in Ireland in 2018, struggled with unemployment, and had turned to gambling.

Who, what, where, when and why

What: Report matter: Moldovian wishes to gather compensation for ATM theft, court hears. Charges or matters: theft of €1,500 from AIB at Permanent TSB, Grafton Street on January 3, 2015. Procedural stage: hearing_or_decision

When:

• January 3, 2015 Hearing Or Sentence
• March 15th Adjournment
• 2016-02-18 Publication

Case subjects

Places mentioned

Topics

Fraud Stage Hearing Or Decision Theft

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Read the original CNI report