Helpers cheat Salvation Army in food bank scam

Martin and Ngaire Finnerty. Photo / Otago Daily Times

Two Salvation Army volunteers have been convicted of stealing groceries intended for the organisation's charity food bank.

Martin Roger Finnerty, 54, and Ngaire Finnerty, 46, yesterday pleaded guilty to theft, after they were caught in a police sting.

They were convicted and sentenced to community work.

"We are really saddened that this happened," said Salvation Army captain Susan McGregor.

The Finnertys began working as volunteers for the Salvation Army in Dunedin about seven years ago.

Once a month, they used the organisation's van to collect donated food items from a wholesaler.

Because of discrepancies in the van's mileage, the Sallies and police put the couple under surveillance.

After making a pick-up, the pair were seen unloading boxes at an unauthorised address, before taking the rest to the food bank.

They then went back to collect the goods they had offloaded and took them home.

Captain McGregor said the effect of the theft on the community was immeasurable because it was not known how long it had been happening or how much food had been taken.

"It did mean our shelves were low. Who knows what we missed out on?"

After the discovery, food bank pick-up procedures were tightened and monitoring of volunteers increased.

"The biggest thing that worried me was the impact this would have on the confidence of the public in donating to us," Captain McGregor said.

"I'd hate people to think we were really loose with that, because we are not."

In the Dunedin District Court yesterday, defence lawyer Jo Turner said the Finnertys knew their behaviour was wrong, but it was "an inappropriate response and misguided effort to gain some control" of their lives.

They had been under emotional and financial stress after the killing of their 16-year-old son and stepson, Shaun Finnerty-Gallagher, in Christchurch in 2008.

Last year, Thomas Tihema Christie, 26, was sentenced to six years' jail for the indecent assault and manslaughter of the teenager.

Judge Stephen O'Driscoll said the couple's crime had "significant effects and consequences for others who wanted food, and that food was not available. This is clearly a mean theft."

- OTAGO DAILY TIMES