Cashier stole from children's piggy banks 05/11/2007 00:00

5 November 2007

Augsburg (dpa) - A bank cashier helped herself to the contents of piggy banks brought in by trusting small children to be lodged at a German savings bank.

As she was given a suspended six months in prison on two counts of theft, a prosecutor Monday described her as morally repulsive, saying, "It cries out for retribution when someone steals money that little children save up."

After rumours that she used to set aside 15 euros for herself from each pile of pennies, a concerned father set up two sting operations and caught her out both times.

He counted the contents of two piggy banks and proved that the amount credited in May was 15 euros (22 dollars) short each time. Brothers aged six and nine had contended they were similarly short- changed the previous month.

The woman, 45, who denied the charges in court and withdrew a previous admission to police, has been dismissed from her job at a savings bank in the southern German city of Augsburg.

The piggy banks each contained 30 to 40 euros in coins.

DPA

Subject: German news