Richard Middleton, then a detective senior sergeant with New Zealand Police, speaks at a South Auckland homicide scene on Boxing Day in 2006. Photo \/ Richard Robinson<\/p>\n
Middleton, who often consults with businesses via his director role at Veritas Investigations, always urges companies to run a relatively inexpensive criminal background check for all new employees. Henare\u2019s thefts are a worst-case example of what can happen otherwise.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey didn\u2019t [but] they now do a criminal history check on everyone employed,\u201d he said. \u201cIn a way, it\u2019s sad. But if they\u2019d done one on her they\u2019d never have hired her.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 48-year-old defendant was sentenced last year to two years and five months\u2019 imprisonment. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe magnitude is significant,\u201d Judge Robyn von Keisenberg said as both Henare and the business owners turned up to the Auckland District Court for the hearing. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe trust that they placed in you has been sorely misplaced.\u201d<\/p>\n
Online shopping sprees<\/p>\n
Court documents state Henare was hired in 2011 and worked initially as an administrator and customer services clerk before she was later handed more trusted roles. <\/p>\n
The company has been granted name suppression, fearing the swindle could create even more havoc by causing clients to lose confidence. But the owners allowed Middleton to discuss the investigation with the Herald. <\/p>\n
This is the first time the brazen, long-term theft has been reported in the media. <\/p>\n
The company began using new Eftpos software in 2017. It came with a card allowing the company to provide refunds when necessary. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe defendant regularly swiped the refund card through the company\u2019s Eftpos machine to claim a refund under the transactional limit of $500 into her personal accounts,\u201d the agreed summary of facts for her case states. \u201cIf the defendant wanted to withdraw more than $500, she would make multiple refunds kept under the $500 limit.\u201d<\/p>\n
In total, authorities counted just over 800 withdrawals in which the money went into one of her three bank accounts. <\/p>\n
In retrospect, it perhaps was obvious. But her co-workers gave her the benefit of the doubt. <\/p>\n
\u201cI now understand why parcels were arriving multiple times a week with personal shopping items for her,\u201d another staff member noted in a victim impact statement. \u201cAll the things she regularly bought online, sometimes I found myself thinking, \u2018Wow, wish I could shop\/afford this much!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Footwear was among the parcels regularly sent to the office, as were gifts for her grandson. In fact, the staff member noted, new shoes were among the personal belongings Henare took with her when she was escorted from the business on the last day of her employment. <\/p>\n
With all the parcels coming in, work seemed to be a genuinely happy place for Henare prior to her scheme unravelling, the former co-worker explained. <\/p>\n
\u201cI never thought for a second she was using someone else\u2019s money illegally for it,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
\u2018Absolutely betrayed\u2019<\/p>\n
The company owners gave Middleton a call about a year ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe think we\u2019ve discovered a fraudster in our staff,\u201d he recalled the longtime acquaintances saying. <\/p>\n
Middleton had spent 20 years investigating homicides and serious crime in South Auckland before taking on a management role in which he oversaw hundreds of New Zealand Police employees.<\/p>\n
He retired in 2014 after 33 years of policing, but after a year of decompressing – and driving his wife crazy at home – it was strongly suggested he consider a second career, he recently explained with a laugh. Detective work, in which he no longer had to manage staff or be the one taking orders, seemed the perfect compromise. <\/p>\n
Richard Middleton stands in front of Manukau Police Station in 2014, shortly before his retirement. Photo \/ Doug Sherring<\/p>\n
After the call, he met with the owners off-site and they took him through what they had already discovered. Were their suspicions valid, they wondered? <\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, no question,\u201d he told them after they showed him documents showing that auditors couldn\u2019t account for about $300,000. \u201cThere will be more.\u201d<\/p>\n
Obtaining records prior to 2017 would have been prohibitively expensive, so they focused on what they already had. <\/p>\n
\u201cI estimate it was … $500 a day, every day that she came to work,\u201d he said. \u201cAs soon as the records were there, she was starting. How we know it was every day is, whenever she was on leave it didn\u2019t happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
But that\u2019s not entirely true, he backtracked. <\/p>\n
\u201cBecause when she was on leave, she\u2019d ring staff members and say, \u2018Oh, I meant to but I forgot about it, get a refund for this. Can you pay it into that account?\u2019 <\/p>\n
\u201c… They felt betrayed – absolutely betrayed.\u201d<\/p>\n
The confrontation<\/p>\n
The owner called Henare to a meeting and invited Middleton along, letting him introduce himself and do the talking once she arrived. <\/p>\n
\u201cAs soon as she realised the game was up, she looked at the business owner and said, \u2018I\u2019m so sorry,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cShe wanted to explain what had gone on to the business owners, but at that point we had a game plan that they\u2019d stay out of it just to keep that independence.\u201d<\/p>\n
A two-hour interview followed in which she signed a statement explaining how it happened. She was then escorted off the premises. <\/p>\n
\u201cShe claimed that she realised it was wrong, didn\u2019t want to do it any more, and that\u2019s why she stopped,\u201d Middleton recalled of the meeting. \u201cThat\u2019s just bullocks. She lied.\u201d <\/p>\n
In reality, he said, it stopped only because she had lost the refund card – later found in the pocket of a reflective vest – while on a site visit. <\/p>\n
Henare also claimed she got addicted to online gambling during the Covid-19 lockdown, but Middleton said he never saw any evidence of it. The problem with that excuse, he said, was that the thefts started well before the pandemic. <\/p>\n
After that meeting, the company has the option of parting ways with Middleton and thanking him for his service or continuing to pay him to put together a comprehensive file to present to police. They chose the latter option, knowing it would expedite the justice process. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey [police] do a really good job but it just takes time,\u201d Middleton said, explaining that financial crime investigations often get put on the back burner when there\u2019s an influx of violent crime. <\/p>\n
A meeting was arranged with the police financial crimes unit in December 2024 and Henare was arrested a month later. <\/p>\n
\u2018Dented confidence\u2019<\/p>\n
Henare faced up to seven years\u2019 imprisonment after pleading guilty to the representative charge of theft by a person in a special relationship. <\/p>\n
Judge von Keisenberg rejected the defence request for a sentence starting point of two and a half years, which could have potentially resulted in a non-custodial sentence once mitigating factor reductions were factored in. She instead ordered a three-and-a-half-year starting point, which she described as \u201cif anything, at the lower end\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn this case, and I am sure you are under no misapprehension, this is very serious offending,\u201d the judge told Henare. <\/p>\n
Judge Robyn von Keisenberg sentenced Jaclyn Henare. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
She described the 806 total fraudulent transactions as \u201cextraordinarily high\u201d and \u201ca seriously aggravating factor\u201d – along with the high dollar amount and the fact it was \u201ccalculated theft, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a smallish company, so the impact of that offending resonates,\u201d he said, referring to a victim impact statement on behalf of the company authored by one of its directors. <\/p>\n
\u201c… Henare\u2019s frauds dented our confidence in that we doubted ourselves as business partners,\u201d the statement read. \u201cHer actions also dented our trust and confidence in our employees, although we tried consciously to not let this happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
The financial discrepancies were first discovered when the company sold part of its shares to a new owner. The missing funds meant they had to accept a lower share price, they explained. <\/p>\n
\u2018You didn\u2019t learn\u2019<\/p>\n
Judge von Keisenberg allowed 35% in total reductions for Henare\u2019s guilty plea, rehabilitation efforts and her letter of remorse. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn your case, there has been no attempt at reparation and you have been candid and frank with the probation officer that you are simply not in a position to repay anything by way of reparation,\u201d she added. \u201cClearly, that cannot reflect in a discount.\u201d<\/p>\n
What made things \u201cconsiderably worse\u201d, the judge said, was the fact Henare was \u201cnot a stranger to dishonesty\u201d. <\/p>\n
She was convicted in 1997 of theft as a servant and again in 2010 of theft by a person in a special relationship. For the latter case, she was ordered to serve home detention and pay $60,000 reparation. <\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough these matters are relatively historic, they are directly related and what that also tells me, Ms Henare, is that you did not learn,\u201d Judge von Keisenberg said, ordering an uplift of three months. <\/p>\n
She also imposed a reparation order for $376,606, despite Henare\u2019s indication she wouldn\u2019t be able to repay it. <\/p>\n
Up until the day of sentencing, the owners still hadn\u2019t known about Henare\u2019s criminal history, Middleton recently said. <\/p>\n
\u201cDo due diligence. Do the police history check,\u201d he repeated. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt costs $50, you can do it online, and it\u2019s just part of hiring nowadays. I tell people, \u2018Just get it done. You might think absolutely no problem [with a candidate], but get it done.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n