TINA Borger: TINA Borger is led into a police van on Friday afternoon after being sentenced to two-and-a-half years jail for embezzling $406,000 from a local real estate agency.

Woman guilty of embezzling $406,000 to feed obsessive gambling addiction

A LOCAL woman found guilty of embezzling more than $400,000 was sentenced to two-and-a-half years imprisonment at Griffith District Court on Friday afternoon.
Tina Dorothy Borger, 34, was visibly shaking as the court heard how she dishonestly obtained $406,000 during the course of her employment at a Griffith real estate agency.
The court was told the property manager actively encouraged tenants to pay their rent in cash, making it easier for her to illegally pocket the money.
Borger embezzled the cash between June 2004 and March 2005, spending much of it on her gambling addiction at the Griffith Ex-Servicemen’s Club.
Borger continually looked to her large support group in the public gallery and sobbed into tissues throughout the sentencing.
In her defence, lawyers argued Borger had committed the crime to feed her gambling addiction and pointed to evidence contained in a psychological assessment claiming she suffered from compulsive behaviour. The court was shown a bundle of personal references in which family and friends referred to her “honesty”. The defence also argued Borger was under “psychological pressure” from her husband to commit the crimes.
However, the prosecution said Borger’s actions amounted to a breach of employment trust and were in some ways a “sophisticated” organised criminal activity.
In handing down the sentence, Judge David Freeman described Borger’s actions as “serious” criminal activity.
“The sum of money involved makes this a very serious criminal activity,” Judge Freeman said.
“People in positions of trust must be deterred.”
Judge Freeman did, however, consider Borger’s physical frailty in the form of diabetes and a back injury, as well as the psychological assessments pointing to her gambling addiction. 
He also gave weight to her previous good character and her recent attempts to attend Gamblers Anonymous.
He said the crime was in the upper range of seriousness but reduced the sentence from the maximum five-year penalty, to two-and-a-half years, with a 12-month non-parole period.