Post by Coastie on Oct 9, 2006 0:10:59 GMT 10
Doesn't sound too smart though
Source = Sydney Morning Herald www.smh.com.au
Australian cruise worker jailed in US
Disgraced Australian cruise ship purser Elisha Cuffe has agreed to a four-month jail sentence in the US.
Cuffe, who made world headlines in August when arrested aboard the luxury liner Sapphire Princess, will plead guilty next month to attempted theft in the first degree, Alaska's chief assistant attorney-general Richard Svobodny said.
The 32-year-old was accused of stealing $US400,000 ($537,526) in cash from the ship's safe and hiding it in a cardboard box at the foot of her bed in her cabin.
Under the plea deal Cuffe's lawyers negotiated with prosecutors, she agreed to be deported from the US at the end of her four-month jail stint.
Cuffe was facing a maximum jail term of five years.
"She is pleading guilty," Svobodny confirmed to AAP.
Cuffe was arrested by Alaskan state troopers on August 10 this year when the Sapphire Princess docked at the Alaskan port of Ketchikan midway through a cruise along Alaska's scenic coastline.
Cuffe's superiors became suspicious after cash vanished from the ship's safe which the Australian, as the newly promoted senior assistant purser, had access to.
A search of Cuffe's cabin discovered the box containing $US400,023 in US currency, Alaskan state trooper Gary Webb, who arrested Cuffe, said.
Cuffe, who gave her address to US authorities as East Gosford on the NSW central coast, is expected to be sentenced to the four-month jail term on November 9 in the Ketchikan District Court.
Cuffe, an employee of the Princess Cruises international cruise company for a decade, has remained locked up in an Alaskan jail since her arrest.
She was offered $US30,000 bail, but US authorities discovered her Australian passport had expired so she was deemed to be illegally in the US and kept in jail.
Svobodny said the four-month prison plea deal Cuffe agreed to would take into account the time she has spent in jail.
"Then upon being released she has agreed to being deported," Svobodny said.
Cuffe was originally charged with felony theft in the first degree which carried a maximum jail sentence of 10 years.
Under the deal, the charge was reduced to the lesser felony of attempted theft in the first degree.
The Sapphire Princess is one of the jewels of the Princess Cruises fleet.
It can carry 2760 passengers and offers 740 balcony staterooms for guests, four swimming pools, boutique shops and a spa.
The ship has toured the globe, including ports in Australia.
Disgraced Australian cruise ship purser Elisha Cuffe has agreed to a four-month jail sentence in the US.
Cuffe, who made world headlines in August when arrested aboard the luxury liner Sapphire Princess, will plead guilty next month to attempted theft in the first degree, Alaska's chief assistant attorney-general Richard Svobodny said.
The 32-year-old was accused of stealing $US400,000 ($537,526) in cash from the ship's safe and hiding it in a cardboard box at the foot of her bed in her cabin.
Under the plea deal Cuffe's lawyers negotiated with prosecutors, she agreed to be deported from the US at the end of her four-month jail stint.
Cuffe was facing a maximum jail term of five years.
"She is pleading guilty," Svobodny confirmed to AAP.
Cuffe was arrested by Alaskan state troopers on August 10 this year when the Sapphire Princess docked at the Alaskan port of Ketchikan midway through a cruise along Alaska's scenic coastline.
Cuffe's superiors became suspicious after cash vanished from the ship's safe which the Australian, as the newly promoted senior assistant purser, had access to.
A search of Cuffe's cabin discovered the box containing $US400,023 in US currency, Alaskan state trooper Gary Webb, who arrested Cuffe, said.
Cuffe, who gave her address to US authorities as East Gosford on the NSW central coast, is expected to be sentenced to the four-month jail term on November 9 in the Ketchikan District Court.
Cuffe, an employee of the Princess Cruises international cruise company for a decade, has remained locked up in an Alaskan jail since her arrest.
She was offered $US30,000 bail, but US authorities discovered her Australian passport had expired so she was deemed to be illegally in the US and kept in jail.
Svobodny said the four-month prison plea deal Cuffe agreed to would take into account the time she has spent in jail.
"Then upon being released she has agreed to being deported," Svobodny said.
Cuffe was originally charged with felony theft in the first degree which carried a maximum jail sentence of 10 years.
Under the deal, the charge was reduced to the lesser felony of attempted theft in the first degree.
The Sapphire Princess is one of the jewels of the Princess Cruises fleet.
It can carry 2760 passengers and offers 740 balcony staterooms for guests, four swimming pools, boutique shops and a spa.
The ship has toured the globe, including ports in Australia.
Source = Sydney Morning Herald www.smh.com.au
