A prison officer facing theft charges in the Grand Court said Monday he still owes former inmates money that they gave him to pay for educational courses.
Adam John McIntyre – described in court as the pioneer of education programs in Cayman’s prisons – is facing nine counts each of theft and abuse of office.
McIntyre is accused of stealing almost $3,700 from inmates and their families and putting it on his credit card.
Both parties agree McIntyre, the prison’s former education coordinator, paid for some courses in full with the card, but in other cases, courses were either unpaid or only partially paid.
Under cross examination, McIntyre told the court he accepted he still owed money to five and possibly six of the nine complainants listed in the indictment.
He said three of those complainants had given him consent to hold onto some or all of the money for them. The defendant said he would have paid back two others had he not been put on leave and later suspended over the allegations.
But the court has heard that McIntyre paid back one of the former inmates in June 2005, notwithstanding his suspension, taking him to a George Town bank to repay him before having the man sign an affidavit at a lawyer’s office.
Crown Counsel John Masters described McIntyre as an opportunist when it came to the inmates’ money.
‘You had been running these [education] programs for many years. It’s undoubted that everyone trusted you – everyone thought the world of you,’ he said.
McIntyre has said he would receive full amounts from prisoners then pay smaller amounts to the education provider in instalments, to safeguard the prisoners from losing all their money if they dropped out of a course.
But Mr. Masters put it to McIntyre that he held the money back so he could keep the money if a student dropped out, rather than the education provider getting it.
‘From time to time you realised that prisoners paid the money then dropped out of the courses and sometimes they would not ask for a refund,’ Mr. Masters said. ‘That’s not correct at all,’ McIntyre shot back.
On Friday, McIntyre said he started using his credit card to pay for courses after receiving authorisation from the prison’s director in 2000 – a claim that other prison administrators have contradicted.
Current Director Dwight Scott and Deputy Director Daniel Grieves have both denied McIntyre ever had authorisation to pay for courses on his credit card, as did former Director Eric Smith.
However, former Deputy Director Claira Range said she was aware McIntyre was paying for courses on his credit card, adding she was not aware of any memo being sent telling him not to.
McIntyre said he shifted to credit card payments because it was cheaper, more convenient, and allowed him to pay in instalments.
But Justice Priya Levers pointed out that the interest and fees McIntyre paid on the card would have cost more than the cost of back drafts or wire transfers.
‘I don’t know what to say about that,’ the defendant replied.
Mr. Hamilton said his client’s method of payment probably wasn’t the best way, but asked him if he ever thought he was doing anything dishonest.
‘I didn’t think what I was doing was wrong – I always thought what I was doing was in the best interests of the students in my care,’ he replied.
Justice Levers pointed out that putting the money on his credit card meant he would have to pay less interest and be able to access more credit.
McIntyre told the judge he never thought he was getting a personal gain.
‘In retrospect, I bit off more than I could chew in regard to my obligations and my organisation,’ he said.
But the court has also heard evidence that in some cases, McIntyre did not pay the money onto his credit card at all.
One inmate had paid McIntyre $460 in January 2004. Asked what happened to the money, McIntyre initially said he would have paid it onto his credit card. But when pressed to show evidence on his credit card statement, McIntyre conceded he could not show he paid it to his credit card.
He said he would have spent the cash as his own, intending that the equivalent amount be available on his credit card to pay for the prisoner’s course.
But Justice Levers told him ‘This money was never the prisoner’s, it was the bank’s money that the bank could grant you.
‘How on earth can that be the prisoners?’
‘Your lady, you’re right,’ McIntyre said, ‘but I didn’t consider it that way at the time.’
Closing speeches in the case were expected to start Tuesday, ahead of a verdict Thursday.
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