Greek-Australian Pensioner Faces Theft Charges for Crime He Didn’t Commit… 35 years ago

A Greek-Australian pensioner has been restricted from volunteering at a nursing home  on account of a minor stealing offense 35 years ago that he says he did not commit, reports Adelaide Now.

The Richmond man John Kallios, 69, says he simply wanted to give back to his community, but a routine police check detailed a 1977 larceny offense in his name. Now the Australian police have told Mr Kallios he needs to prove it was not he who committed the offense, even though court records relating to the alleged crime have been long ago destroyed, says the article.

The Greek-Australian pensioner says he is willing to do whatever it takes to prove he’s innocent and that he has never in fact heard of the case. In fact he has offered to take a lie detector test, and believes the offense could have been committed by one of two other men with the same name and mistakenly added to his record.

Mr Kallios had applied for the police check to cook and clean at St Nicholas church at Thebarton and the Greek Orthodox Community Care at Ridleyton but was shocked when the larceny offense popped up in his record,  for which no conviction or penalty was ordered, reports Adelaide Now.

“I have never heard of it before, anything it takes to find out the truth I will do it, I’ll take a lie detector test, anything. I’m not going to give up and I will win this,” the expatriate said. “There could have been a common mistake as to who committed the offence, which I vehemently deny.”

Mr Kallios, who immigrated to Australia back when he was 11 years old, has been licensed to drive taxis since 1980 and said he would not have been granted accreditation had the larceny offense been on his record when he applied for his accreditation.

“I just want to be able to cook and help some of these old people who don’t have many visitors, and it helps me get out of the house and stay involved in the Greek community,” Kallios said.

Source: www.adelaidenow.com