A sacked dental practice manager who stole equipment worth £120,000 from his former employers has been jailed for a year.
Alan Thomson also posed as his old boss in an attempt to transfer £50,000 from a savings account.
A court ruled that the 36-year-old had a serious drug addiction and committed the crimes to pay off debts.
Thomson, from Falkirk, admitted stealing £120,000 worth of dental equipment, electrical appliances and computer equipment from Coatbridge Family Dental Care in Lanarkshire over a four-day period in July 2023.
He also admitted carrying out a fraudulent scheme the following month by posing as Doctor Keith Preston, who owns the dental practice with his wife Gillian.
This involved the company being billed after obtaining £3,600 worth of dental equipment from suppliers and attempting to transfer £50,000 from Dr.'s National Savings Investments account. Preston.
As well as stealing equipment worth £120,000, Alan Thomson also posed as his former boss in an attempt to transfer £50,000 from a savings account.
Thomson escaped with a £470 fine at Edinburgh Sheriff Court in January last year after stealing clothes, handbags and accessories in 2022 while manager of a TK Maxx store in the city's Hermiston Gait.
Airdrie Sheriff Court heard he started work as a practice manager at Coatbridge dental practice in February 2023, but less than three months later he was dismissed for 'underperformance'.
Sarah Healing, prosecuting, said the alarm went off at the property at about 4.30am on July 7, 2023 and police attended and saw a door open and items 'strewn across the floor'.
Investigations revealed that a code assigned to Thomson had been used that morning and on another occasion a few days earlier to deactivate and reset the alarm.
Subsequently, on August 3, a request was submitted by a person posing as Dr. Preston to change the password and cell phone number associated with his NSI account.
The caller – Thomson – went through the security process and was able to change a nominated bank account and request a transfer of £50,000.
Ms Healing told the court: 'Fortunately, suspicions had been raised previously which led to Dr. Preston and he confirmed that he had not authorized any changes.
'Investigations revealed that the £50,000 was allegedly transferred to a Bank of Scotland account in Thomson's name.
'It also emerged that dental equipment worth £3,632.80 had been sent to an address in Glasgow linked to Thomson. Invoices for this had been sent to Coatbridge Family Dental Care.
'Thomson was interviewed and told police that he had provided the key and alarm code for the practice to another person, allowing that person to break in and steal the equipment.'
Defense lawyer Eddie Kelly said Thomson had developed a serious drug addiction after his sister's death and had also racked up debts.
Mr Kelly told the court: 'This affected his judgment and mentality. He knew the person who supplied him with the drugs far too well, which led to this ill-conceived venture.
'It was a gross breach of trust, but I have numerous character references showing he is a highly regarded individual.'
Sheriff Paul Haran accepted the family tragedy had sent Thomson into a 'spiral' leading to the burglary.
The sheriff told him, “I have no doubt that you will have the ability and support to turn things around and become an upstanding and useful member of society.
'But given the extremely serious nature of these charges, I am unfortunately unable to find an alternative to detention.'
Dr. Preston, clinical director of Coatbridge Family Dental Care, said Thomson's crimes had a 'significant and worrying impact'.
He added: 'We were shocked and deeply saddened by the appalling actions of an individual who was employed by us for a short period of time.'
