WA: TAFE teacher gets five years for stealing students' money
20 Feb 2009 7:46 PM
PERTH, Feb 20 AAP - A TAFE teacher has been sentenced to five years in prison for gambling away hundreds of thousands of dollars of his students' money.
The Corruption and Crime Commission of Western Australia said on Friday that Graham Michael Brecker, 51, of Perth, will be eligible for parole after serving three years for 35 stealing offences and four fraud charges.
During his trial, prosecutors said Brecker had convinced a Perth college to introduce a course for beginner investors, which he was to design and present.
In the course, Brecker floated the idea to students of investing funds for them to watch and gain an insight into the share market.
He told the students the funds would be invested in blue chip shares in listed companies.
Brecker's lawyer said his client was not a fraud but had made very poor investment decisions and big errors of judgment.
He had every intention of repaying his students' money, the court was told.
