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A man who was the business manager of a South Australian private school has admitted in court that he stole almost $1 million, saying he had a gambling addiction.
Travis David Saegenschnitter, 34, worked at Saint Jakobi Lutheran School at Lyndoch in the Barossa Valley, north-east of Adelaide, from 2012 until last year.
He pleaded guilty when he faced Elizabeth Magistrates Court to allegations he misappropriated more than $997,000 of school funds.
The court was told Saegenschnitter falsified invoices and financial reports in an effort to cover up his offending.
Prosecutor Sallie McArdell said the offending was uncovered when Saegenschnitter was fired for poor performance last year and another staffer took over the role.
She said the new staffer noticed $49,000 listed on financial reports to pay for iPads — but the school did not provide iPads for students.
The staffer also discovered another $100,000 had been transferred from the school's bank account to Saegenschnitter's online gambling accounts.
"This offending was systematic, it was committed over a long period of time and there is a level of sophistication," Ms McArdell said.
School community's trust 'flouted' and 'abused'
In a victim impact statement on behalf of the school, principal Kathryn Krieg said Saegenschnitter's betrayal had severely impacted the school community.
"Saegenschnitter knowingly robbed the children," she said, before adding that he "flouted with total disregard the trust that we all placed in him".
"Each time he met parents he knew he was abusing their trust.
"Each time he told a staff member that we couldn't buy resources because we couldn't afford it, he knew he was abusing their trust."
Ms Krieg said parents felt shocked and betrayed when they heard of the deceit, given many of them had made financial sacrifices to send their children to the school.
She said the offending was "abhorrent and embarrassing" and that school projects had to be postponed due to cash flow issues.
"Only now, almost a year and a half later, have we been able to settle our cash flow," she said.
'I couldn't break the cycle'
Saegenschnitter read an apology to the court, expressing "deep regret and remorse" for his actions, and said he was sorry for "the trust that I have betrayed".
"I got caught up in a cycle of perpetuated addictions... in my mind I couldn't break the cycle," he said.
"I hated myself for what I was doing.
"There is not a day that goes by that it doesn't weigh heavily on my mind."
But the prosecution told the hearing the offending was systematic and a term of imprisonment was the only appropriate penalty.
The court heard Saegenschnitter falsified invoices and financial reports to cover his tracks and the theft went undetected by independent auditors.
His lawyer Sam Abbott SC told the court his client also suffered from a drug addiction but was committed to turning his life around and repaying some of the funds.
Saegenschnitter will be sentenced at a later date.
Topics: courts-and-trials, fraud-and-corporate-crime, law-crime-and-justice, lyndoch-5351, adelaide-5000, sa
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