Amateur goalkeeper Joseph Regan, 22, stole £1,500 from a nurse and a teacher he met on dating apps after convincing them to open betting accounts with Bet265, a court heard
A “’manipulative and arrogant’ amateur footballer stole more than £1,500 from two women he met on dating apps, a court heard.
Joseph Regan, 22 of Cardiff, used his victims’ card details to open accounts with Bet365 and gambled away their cash. Cardiff Crown Court heard he stole £1,420 from his first victim, who managed to claim back £350 from her bank, and £210 from his second victim.
Both victims independently contacted the police and Action Fraud, which led to Regan’s arrest. He initially denied the offences and claimed he was given permission to use the victims’ money to gamble.
Regan, a goalkeeper for Cardiff Corinthians FC, later pleaded guilty to two counts of theft.
In mitigation, defence barrister Kevin Seal said his client was “ashamed” of the offences and was going through a “difficult patch” of gambling addiction.
He said the defendant was now on a road to recovery and has the offer of employment, WalesOnline reported.
Sentencing him to six months imprisonment suspended for 18 months, recorder Neil Owen-Casey said: “You duped your victims, you spun them a story about how they would be helping you.
“It’s not disputed you would get free bets but you have shown this was repeated behaviour. “Even when you have got the opportunity to get that free bet you have gone on and gone on and gone on and continued taking money from their account when you had no permission to do so and they were unaware.”
Regan was also ordered to carry out a 20 day rehabilitation activity requirement and 60 hours unpaid work, and was ordered to pay compensation of £1,280 in compensation.
Speaking afterwards, one of his victims who is a teacher said: “He was putting on this front, he was saying he loved me and I thought that was so forward.
“He was saying we should go on holiday together. This was just three weeks and to some degree I had fallen for it.
“He would send pictures of his card and say ‘Why don’t you trust me? I have sent my cards to you’. He was calling me stupid and stuff. I had feelings towards him so I thought he must be genuine. I didn’t see how someone could do this to me.
“I was in a state of panic, I hadn’t bought any Christmas presents…at first I thought I had spent this money myself. I didn’t know what to do, I thought it was just a mistake and no one would do this to me.”
She confronted Regan but he tried to “play her off” and threatened to come to her school.
The second victim began a casual relationship with Regan after matching on Hinge and he asked her to open a Bet365 account while staying at her home.
She said: “He is a manipulative and arrogant person who thinks he is untouchable. He is literally a nobody and has nothing going for himself.
“I have not been on any dating apps, I refuse to go on it because I am scared it will happen to me again. He could have really hurt me or I could have disappeared or something. People don’t emphasise how scary and dangerous dating can be.
“When you’re young you think it’s all fun but with my experience I am much less lenient.”
