Parkinson?s drugs turned man into EBay scammer
Peter Shepherd pleaded guilty to eBay scam charges claiming that a drug he took for Parkinson?s disease severally altered his personality and made him unable to discern right from wrong.
Shepherd, age 59, worked for many years as an IT manager with a ?50,000 salary before he retired and started taking the drug Cabergoline seven years ago.
According to Shepherd, once he began taking the drug his personality was altered and he began to exhibit weird behavioural habits such as violence towards his second wife, a cross dressing habit, and accumulating a massive amount of debts.
Over the last few years, Shepherd was living the highlife buying many new vehicles, running up ?150,000 in credit card debt, and taking a Caribbean cruise.
It was due to his spending habits, he claimed in front of Hull Crown Court, that he began an eBay ticket scam selling fake tickets to the Take That and Donny Osmond concert series that after people purchased were never received.
He was able to carry on the scam unscathed for 11 months convincing 172 people to buy ?45,718 worth of tickets that they never saw.
Defending James Sampson stated that while the case is odd, it is not unheard of for those who suffer from Parkinson?s disease.
He went on to say that while the drug helped increase Shepherd?s mobility, it had a serious side effect on his behaviour. Outside of spending Shepherd entertained thoughts of suicide, marital aggression, and violence.
Shepherd entered a plea of guilty to six different counts of fraud for the ticket scam, after which he was issued a conditional discharge due to his altered mental state. His wife was given a year-long supervision order along with 100 hours of unpaid work.
