A Bedfordshire warehouse worker who stole 50 Amazon gift cards that had been sent out to customers, has been given a community order.
Alexandru Feraru who worked in the Amazon warehouse in Dunstable, noted the reference numbers on the cards before they were dispatched and when they were en route to the customer, quickly redeemed them to buy goods.
Between December 2017 and April of 2018 he regularly redeemed the value of the cards to buy items that he could sell.
Luton Crown Court was told he used the money he made to support himself and his partner because they were desperately hard up.
In all the loss to Amazon came to £3015. Customers received the cards, but found they were worthless when they went to use them.
Prosecutor Neil King said Amazon carried out an investigation and Feraru who is now 25 was dismissed. But, the court heard, he then got a job as a driver’s mate for a company delivering goods to branches of Superdrug.
On the night of July 9, 2018, going into the early hours of the next day, he was on a delivery run to take good to branches in Berkshire, Wiltshire and Oxfordshire.
His job on arrival at a store was to get of the cab and go to the entrance doors and switch off the security alarms so that the driver could manoeuvre the vehicle on to the premises.
However, at three of the branches Feraru took the opportunity, having got into the store, to quickly go behind the counter of the shop to steal high value toiletries.
His activities were caught on CCTV at the branches and in all he took goods worth more than £2100 that night.
Feraru of Collingdon Street in Luton pleaded guilty to theft by an employee in relation to the Amazon offences and three charge of non dwelling house burglary.
The court was told the defendant who came to the UK in 2016 had struggled to get well paid work and found himself struggling to make ends meet.
He was only 21 at the time and living in poor conditions and even providing food for himself and his partner was proving difficult. It was against this background, the court heard, that his offending began.
Judge Gary Lucy hearing the case was told that with the help of his family, the defendant had now set up his own roofing business and was in a much better position financially.
In addition to the 12 month community order, Feraru was told he would have to carry out 180 hours of unpaid work.
