Richard Escutin leaves the Hamilton District Court after being sentenced on four representative charges of theft by a person in a special relationship totalling around $17,000 on Wednesday. Photo / Belinda Feek
A lawyer for an IT worker who racked up “escorts and dating services” on his company credit card while overseas on business says the offending was “driven by necessity rather than poor decision making”.
Richard Escutin was employed as a technical instructor for global packaging giant Tetra Pak.
An affidavit to the judge in the Hamilton District Court said the job was “travel-heavy” and Escutin spent 80% of his time overseas.
His lawyer, Mark Jepson, in fighting for his client’s section 106 discharge without conviction on four representative charges of theft by a person in a special relationship, argued it was “unique offending driven by necessity rather than greed or poor decision making”.
He added that Escutin would be unlikely to appear in court again.
Judge Kim Saunders disagreed about the defendant being driven by necessity.
“It has to be said, I am not sure it was necessary for you to procure the services of escorts while you were on business,” she told him while dismissing the application this week.
As well as escorts, Escutin also clocked up flights for his family to the Philippines, car repairs, cash withdrawals and a new watch.
All up, the thefts, which have since been repaid, totalled $17,680.64.
That was significantly less than the roughly $60,000 he was originally charged with stealing. The new figure was settled on after negotiations with police.
Jepson argued the offending should be treated as being “at the absolute lowest end” of its type, given his manager at the time had approved all of the expenses.
But Judge Saunders instead found it “moderately serious”, convicting him and sentencing Escutin to 200 hours of community work.
Escutin, who worked at Tetra Pak from August 2015 until he resigned in March 2020, was paid a “substantial salary” and was also eligible for bonuses.
In June 2018, he was issued a Citibank company credit card with a $17,000 limit to use domestically and internationally.
While travelling, he was also paid a daily incidental allowance for all of his meals, and was able to book flights on Tetra Pak’s separate company credit card.
On December 19, 2019, he booked airfares for himself, his partner and son to Manila, totalling $6423.07.
He also bought a $1700 watch, but submitted it in the system as an “airfare”.
Between November 18, 2018 and March 6, 2020, Escutin clocked up $2624.85 paying for repairs for his personal car and “dating and escort services”.
In Concur, the company’s expense system, Escutin wrote that the cost of the dating and escort services, in January 2020, was for his Malaysian visa.
He also made 22 cash withdrawals in Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and New Zealand worth $6916.
Some of the purchases were made while Escutin was on annual leave, but all were approved by his manager.
His thefts came to light in April 2020 after he was featured as one of the company’s top spenders.
That triggered suspicion of fraudulent use, because generally, his job shouldn’t have put him in that category.
An internal audit discovered partial or incorrect supporting documentation was used.
In his affidavit, Escutin essentially blamed his offending on his job, which meant a lot of travelling, and a “high level of technical ability, patience, and skill”.
He was also frequently called to sites for troubleshooting at the last minute, working long days and nights unexpectedly.
“With such a fast-paced and unpredictable schedule, constantly shifting between airports, hotels, and customer sites, keeping on top of administrative tasks like collecting and organising receipts became genuinely difficult.
“I tried my best to stay organised, but the reality of the work meant that some receipts were misplaced or not recorded properly.
“This is ultimately what contributed to the situation and to the charges.”
A senior staff member, in a victim impact statement, said the company had since changed its processes around the use of company-issued credit cards.
Jepson made his application on the basis that Escutin’s manager at the time approved the expenses, so the defendant believed it was all above board.
The lawyer said the case had been trawling through the court for four years and was set for trial, but after negotiations with police, and getting the value of the charges dropped from around $60,000 to $17,000, Escutin pleaded guilty.
Asked by Judge Saunders why his client pleaded guilty to the charges if he was still aggrieved at the situation, Jepson said he’d spoken with police who, at that stage, had agreed not to oppose a discharge without conviction if his client paid the money back.
The police view changed in preparation for sentencing.
While reading a character reference from Escutin’s new employer, Judge Saunders asked Jepson if they knew of the charges he was facing.
Escutin confirmed they didn’t know. A second reference, from the Filipino Society of NZ, was aware of the charges.
The judge said she would have to put his employer’s reference to one side.
“Because it’s not made in the full knowledge of his guilty pleas to dishonesty offending,” she said.
“It’s a bit disingenuous, though, isn’t it, to ask for a character reference knowing you’re about to come into court for dishonesty offending?”
Jepson replied: “He’s otherwise of good character. There are other redeeming qualities.”
The judge responded: “I’m not saying he’s not without redeeming qualities, but these are not insignificant charges”.
Jepson said that when Escutin started in the role, the company didn’t have specific policies around company credit card use.
Judge Saunders said: “I appreciate that ... no one here is stupid, Mr Jepson.
“You have a company credit card; you should know, irrespective of signing a policy or not, what you can use it for.”
Judge Saunders said there was nothing unique in Escutin’s offending.
“It is simply deliberate, repetitive use of a company credit card for personal gain, with you taking advantage of accounting procedures, deliberately concealing the true nature of transactions.
“It cannot, in any way, be considered necessary to visit brothels or to have brought yourself a watch.
“Even if the manager signed off the expenditure, it is disingenuous to claim he did so knowing the true nature of the transactions.”
Escutin was convicted and sentenced to 200 hours of community work.
Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for 11 years and has been a journalist for 22.