German jailed for looting parking ticket machines
BERLIN (Reuters) - A city clerk in Germany who stole some 1 million euros ($1.20 million) worth of coins from parking ticket machines has been sentenced to more than four years in jail, a court in the western city of Aachen said Friday.
A court spokesman said the 39-year-old man stole bag after bag of the coins entrusted to him after their collection from the city's 330 ticket machines. He then converted the cash into notes and secreted the money in various bank accounts.
Only when Aachen began to transfer the parking revenues directly to a local bank in mid-2003, thus bypassing the clerk, did the city authorities suspect that something was wrong.
"All of a sudden the revenues from the ticket machines shot up dramatically," the spokesman said. "So it became obvious there was a big hole in the accounts. The man was eventually found out during the ensuing investigation."
Only when Aachen began to transfer the parking revenues directly to a local bank in mid-2003, thus bypassing the clerk, did the city authorities suspect that something was wrong.
"All of a sudden the revenues from the ticket machines shot up dramatically," the spokesman said. "So it became obvious there was a big hole in the accounts. The man was eventually found out during the ensuing investigation."
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