The Court of Appeal has dismissed Daniel Munteanu’s appeal against the severity of a seven-year prison sentence, with the final six months suspended, for his part in a series of ATM frauds.
Munteanu had pleaded guilty to 28 offences: participating in a criminal organisation, possessing false instruments or materials designed to create them, and theft. The sentence was imposed on 25 March 2021. The appeal court, in a judgment delivered on 8 March 2022, concluded the sentence fell within the available range and identified no error of principle.
The case began after Bank of Ireland officers reported ATM fraud in late 2018. Hidden devices were attached to cash machines to capture card details and PINs. The data was used to create altered cards to withdraw money. The complaints covered 512 withdrawals involving 80 accounts. About €120,000 was taken from ATMs. The judgment said the bank bore the financial loss, while customers were inconvenienced and some were distressed.
A Garda investigation examined CCTV and tracked a vehicle whose movements corresponded with ATM locations. A search warrant was executed at a residence in Navan on 28 February 2019. The court was told that officers found mobile phones containing photographs of four men at the house, numerous loyalty cards and electronic equipment used to harvest bank-card data and PINs.
The appeal argued that the sentencing judge had set headline sentences too high and failed to allow adequately for mitigation, including early admissions and a guilty plea that avoided a potentially lengthy, complex trial. The appellant also argued that the sentence was out of line with other cases and that the criminal organisation was not comparable to a gang involved in major drug trafficking or violence. His counsel described his role as that of a “foot soldier rather than a CEO”.
The appeal court accepted that the headline terms for theft and false-instrument offences were at or near the statutory maximums, but said those maxima apply to a single offence and this case involved many offences. It found the headline sentence for participation in a criminal organisation was within the upper band, near the boundary with the mid-range. The court said the trial judge had allowed significant, even generous, mitigation, particularly given Munteanu’s relevant previous UK convictions for possessing articles for use in fraud.
The appeal was dismissed. The seven-year sentence, including the suspended final six months, remains in place.