$500,000 'stolen' from cruise ship

[chaz cruiser]

I know this isn't one of "our" ships but I just found the below report on www.news.com.au. I wonder is it really stealing if she never removed the money from the ship?:confused: Just kidding!! I can't believe she managed to have that much in her cabin!! I wonder what she was really planning to do with it...:confused:

 

Cheers,

Chaz:)

 

August 17, 2006 01:58pm

 

Article from: AAP

 

 

AN Australian woman working as the chief purser on a luxury cruise ship has been charged in the United States with stealing $521,274 from the ship's safe and hiding it in her cabin.

Elisha Cuffe, 32, was arrested and escorted off the luxury liner Sapphire Princess in front of passengers after the ship docked at the Alaskan port city of Ketchikan last week.

Ms Cuffe, who gave her Australian address to authorities as East Gosford on the New South Wales central coast, has remained locked up in an Alaskan jail since her arrest.

She has been unable to meet bail and declined an offer from US authorities to contact the Australian consulate.

Alaskan state troopers allege Ms Cuffe, a 10-year veteran of the cruise line, hid the cash in a cardboard box at the end of her bed.

The ship's security personnel became suspicious during their voyage from Vancouver, Canada, to Whittier, Alaska, when money from the safe, which Ms Cuffe had access to, began disappearing, police said.

An investigation was launched onboard and Ms Cuffe's room was searched.

"There were some discrepancies in the cash onboard beginning around the 20th of May," spokesman for the Alaskan State Troopers, Greg Wilkinson, said.

"She had been questioned about it, denied any knowledge of it.

"As part of the onboard investigation they asked to search her room and at that point they discovered the money in a cardboard box at the foot of her bed."

The ship and its route is popular with tourists around the world, including Australians, as it takes passengers through the Gulf of Alaska providing with views of the Glacier Bay National Park.

The FBI was alerted to the alleged theft by the ship's security personnel.

Alaskan state trooper Gary Webb, who was one of two troopers called by the FBI to interview Ms Cuffe on the ship, said she admitted to taking the money to her room.

Ms Cuffe, however, said she was not planning to flee with the cash, he said.

"She said she had taken the money because the ship's computer was showing less money than was actually on hand in the safe," he said.

"She said she didn't have any plans on removing the money from the ship."

Ms Cuffe appeared in Ketchikan District Court on Friday, where bail was set at $39,000 in cash.

She could not make the bail.

Ms Cuffe was charged with felony theft in the first degree.

If convicted she faces up to 10 years in jail and a $130,300 fine.

The Australian's arrest is front page news in Alaska.

"This a large sum of money for a theft case in Alaska," Mr Wilkinson said.

"We don't see thefts of over $US400,000 very often in Alaska."

The Sapphire Princess is one of the jewels of the Princess Cruises fleet.

It can carry 2,760 passengers and offers 740 balcony staterooms for guests, four swimming pools, boutique shops and a spa.

The ship has toured the globe, including trips to Australia.

One of Ms Cuffe's relatives from Forresters Beach, near Gosford, today said her family was distraught by the news but did not want to make any further comment. “It's too difficult for us at the moment, and we want to have our privacy respected,” she said.

She did not give her name, and her relationship to Ms Cuffe was not clarified.

Source: http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,20158687-2,00.html

[strawberrypatch11]

Gee, how embarassing that a fellow Australian did that, How awful for her family though.:(

 

That is a lot of money