Tauranga cop's wife scams widow

A police detective's wife stole thousands of dollars from an 84-year-old widow and a bank as she lived a secret life to bankroll her gambling addiction.
Vicki Lee McCaskie - the wife of Tauranga police officer Rob McCaskie - stole a total of $25,591.51 while working as a customer services representative at Westpac Bank's Cherrywood branch.
The 44-year-old stole $17,591.51 from the widow and $8000 from the bank's ATM machine to cover gambling losses her family knew nothing about.
She was sentenced in Tauranga District Court yesterday to five months' home detention and 250 hours' community work after earlier pleading guilty to five charges of obtaining by deception and one charge of theft by a person in a special relationship.
The case follows that of Michelle Campbell, 43, who defrauded more than $1 million from Ebbett Tauranga. Campbell was at the time the wife of Tauranga constable Steve Campbell.
In the McCaskie case, after the victim's husband died, she developed a personal relationship with McCaskie and would seek her help with transactions. Between July 2 and October 19 2009, McCaskie made numerous withdrawals from the victim's two bank accounts, including one of $9591.51.
When the woman's bank statement arrived in the mail one Saturday morning she noticed there was less money in her account than she had expected.
When she approached McCaskie to ask about the withdrawal of the $9000, the victim was told she had withdrawn the money to buy Bonus Bonds.
Knowing this wasn't true, the elderly woman complained to the Cherrywood bank branch and then police.
On February 24, the bank's senior management confronted McCaskie and she denied any wrongdoing but acknowledged she had a serious gambling addiction and needed help.
A police investigation was launched which confirmed a substantial amount of unauthorised cash withdrawals had been made from the victim's bank accounts.
It was also found that McCaskie had obtained substantial extra money from Westpac over and above her jointly-held mortgage.
She had also obtained extra credit cards from several other banks which were at their maximum credit limits with demands for payments and penalty payments.
On August 11, McCaskie told police that when the elderly victim arrived at the bank she would take her into an office to get her to sign withdrawal forms and also got her to pre-sign other withdrawal forms.
During the interview, McCaskie also admitted that she had helped herself to $8000 from the bank's ATM cash float between March and May this year and tried to cover the losses by holding a false balance in her teller's cash records.
The bank fired her on the day of that interview.
Westpac media relations manager Chris Mirams told the Bay of Plenty Times the bank had worked closely with the victim and she had been reimbursed.
McCaskie told police she had started gambling after the death of her father four years ago but she was unable to control it.
None of her family were aware of the "double life" she was leading and she had taken the money to pay off debts which were piling up.
In court, McCaskie's lawyer, Rachael Adams, handed up a number of references and reports, including from the Problem Gambling Foundation and an independent psychologist, and urged Judge Peter Rollo to impose home detention as recommended by the pre-sentence report writer.
Judge Rollo told McCaskie, a first-timer before the courts, that given her background and the many testimonials describing her as a "very honest and trustworthy person" in the past, she had "fallen far" and must now pay the price with the starting point being imprisonment.
The harm done to her victims and family was significant, particularly to her husband who had cashed in his superannuation to help repay the stolen money.
"However, you are entitled to call on your previous good record, personal circumstances and with credit for your guilty pleas, and the restorative justice meeting report, I'm satisfied home detention is the appropriate sentence," Judge Rollo said.
McCaskie is also subject to six months post detention conditions to ensure she continues to address the causes of her offending.
Western Bay police commander Inspector Mike Clement said the case had been handled by a senior investigator from outside the area.
"Mrs McCaskie's husband is a well-regarded member of the Western Bay police who will continue to serve this community as he has done for many years."