A hotel worker stole from a groom-to-be’s wedding account after discovering blank cheques in his room, Perth Sheriff Court has heard.
Konrad Wojnicki stole £500 from victim Ryan Reed after he and a friend stayed at the Weem Hotel in Aberfeldy.
Wojnicki filled in one of the cheques himself and cashed it at a local bank, only for police to be on his trail within a matter of days.
He lost his employment as a result of the offence and the court heard he had been forced to leave a second job after a court appearance during which he offered a guilty plea.
The court was told that Mr Reed and his friend had travelled to Highland Perthshire from Lenzie, near Glasgow, to make final preparations for his marriage.
They stayed in the hotel over the weekend of October 14 and 15 last year, during which time Mr Reed asked his friend to pay for a variety of wedding services, giving him six signed blank cheques with which to do so.
A day later, however, the friend was forced to admit that he could not find the remaining three cheques and believed they remained at the hotel.
But there was no sign of the cheques and their whereabouts remained unknown until October 17 when Wojnicki offered one to staff at the Lloyds TSB in Aberfeldy.
He told staff that he had not presented a cheque before and did not know what to do with it.
The accused left with instructions and returned half-an-hour later with a completed cheque, made payable to his account for the sum of £500.
When Mr Reed became aware that the money had been taken from his account he contacted the police who obtained Wojnicki’s details from the bank.
They went to Weem Hotel, where the general manager revealed Wojnicki had been responsible for stripping the bedding from the rooms in which the pair had stayed.
Inquiries were then made at the bank and a review of CCTV footage showed Wojnicki handing the cheque to an employee.
He was traced and arrested some days later and admitted taking the cheque and using it to obtain £500.
The accused, of Ardclach Bridgend, Aberfeldy, later appeared in court to admit that on October 17 last year, at Lloyds TSB in Bank Street, he pretended to an employee that a cheque for £500 had been made payable to him by the holder of the account and induced her to credit his bank account and obtained £500 by fraud.
Solicitor Paul Ralph told the court: ”No-one with any idea how a bank works would think that this would go undiscovered.”
The agent added that his client had moved to Scotland from Poland three years ago but was uncertain whether he would stay in the country long-term.
”He obviously lost his employment at the hotel as a result of this offence and he is making efforts to find a new job.”
Ordering Wojnicki to pay his victim £500 and also fining him £450, Sheriff Robert McCreadie said: ”This was an opportunistic theft”.
The accused was given three months to pay.