AN ARROCHAR woman’s right to remain in the UK is at risk after she admitted her part in a fraudulent scheme to get money back on clothes bought from a major chain.
Elizabeita Folwarczny targeted the TK Maxx stores in Clydebank, Glasgow Fort and Argyle Street in the city centre between February and May 2017.
The 45-year-old was sentenced at Dumbarton Sheriff Court on Tuesday after pleading guilty at an earlier hearing.
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She admitted buying items from the stores, removing their tags and attaching them to different items before returning those items in a bid to secure a refund.
She was originally charged with obtaining the goods, and a refund of £260, by fraud, but her plea of guilty to obtaining a lesser sum of £85.98 was accepted by the Crown.
At Tuesday’s hearing, Folwarczny’s solicitor said his client had no previous convictions, either in Scotland or her native Poland, and had been working in Scotland for the last 16 years.
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He said: “She is concerned about her conviction placing her right to remain in the UK in potential jeopardy, but she is quite happy to plead guilty.
“Her citizenship application is on hold at the moment.”
Folwarczny, previously of Hepburn Road in Garelochhead but currently living in Bruce Court, Arrochar, was fined £360 after Sheriff Sukhwinder Gill noted that a report said she was at “low risk” of reoffending.
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