Man found with €28,000 in his home jailed for money laundering

A man who was found with €28,000 in cash at his home has been jailed for two years for money laundering.

Brian Shiels, 33, of 100 Umlagh Cottages, Carrigart admitted the offence at Letterkenny Circuit Court. He had been charged under the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act 2010.

Mr Shiels had accepted ownership of €19,000 and admitted that it was the proceeds of criminal activity.

Two large sums of cash were found at separate locations in his house when gardaí carried out a search on October 21, 2020.

Shiels accepted ownership of the €19,000, found in a drawer in his bedroom, but told gardaí that the €9,040, which was found in another bedroom, belonged to his sister.

During detention at Milford garda station, Shiels admitted that the €19,000 belonged to him and was the proceeds of crime. Shiels told gardaí that he was selling cocaine to “Dublin boys”’.

Chef who held knife to wife’s throat jailed for two years

Wife told court she thought her husband was going to kill her

He had been unemployed at the time of the offence, but is now working as a part-time milkman. He returned to college to complete a degree in computer service management. 

The sentencing hearing heard he faced a maximum sentence of 14 years. 

Judge John Aylmer said the offence was in the lower end of the mid-range of such offences and merited a sentence of four years.

Mitigating circumstances included that he had no previous convictions, had not come to adverse attention since and had fully cooperated with gardaí.

The judge noted that Mr Shiels had been out of work at the time and seemed to have been under pressure from peers. He had been abusing alcohol and cocaine and suffers from anxiety. 

The judge reduced the sentence to three years and suspended the final year on the condition Mr Shiels be of good behaviour for two years, and abstain from alcohol and illegal drugs.

He was also ordered to be under the supervision of Probation Services and engage with addiction and mental health services as advised.