Southeast Sydney man, Jake Linardos, has faced court, being accused of fraud after he cashed a betting slip worth $9787 that he found in August 2020, The Daily Telegraph has reported.
The 12-person jury in the Sydney District Court heard last month that Linardos found the slip on the floor at the Doncaster Hotel in Kensington, held onto it for a few days before claiming the winnings at another establishment.
The slip, unbeknownst to Linardos, belonged to former South Sydney Rabbitohs player, Beau Champion.
After realising he had lost the slip, the ex-NRL star took steps to find it. Linardos was then contacted by police who had identified him using CCTV and Covid check-in registers.
“About two weeks later police called me in and I told them exactly what happened,” Linardos said.
“I gamble a bit and I’d hate to lose that much money so I wanted to give it back.
“I wanted to give it to the police but they said it was a private matter and that I had to meet the owner on the street. I didn’t even know who the owner was and it could have been dangerous so I said no. So then after that they charged me.”
After only 34 minutes of deliberation, the Sydney jury found him not guilty of the offence of obtaining a financial advantage by deception.
His lawyers argued that there was no deception over the ownership of the betting slip because there was nothing on it that identified the owner.
Following the return of the non-guilty verdict, the prosecuting lawyers said they will try to make Linardos stand trial next February on a charge of larceny (theft of personal property).
Champion said the money has not been returned to him and Linardos said he is no longer in a position to return it.
“The money’s all gone now because I had to pay my lawyers,” Mr Linardos said.
“I was trying to do the right thing. I didn’t rob him or anything.
“I just found a ticket and was trying to do the right thing but then I got charged instead.”
SOURCE: Daily Telegraph
