Selfie in Surgery Led to Six Year Prison Sentence
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- Published: Friday, 05 April 2024 10:41
- Written by Guy Tuggle
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The indemnity organisations provide regular advice warning dental professionals of the risks that can come from using their phones at work. Now a case has emerged where a patient has come to regret their own in-surgery photography. Khan Gorgulu’s photo, taken as he sat in the dentist’s chair, ended with a jail sentence.
GDPUK readers will be used to parents taking pictures of their child’s first visit to the dentist and may have mixed feelings when asked to be part of the picture. Then there are patients taking selfies. We may all approve of the ones where they show off their completed new smile, but the previous ones showing a selection of gaps and implant abutments, may not be such good practice builders.
Gorgulu took what should have been an innocuous selfie as he sat in the chair at his dental visit, and sent it to Giovanni Spada. Partners in crime, Gorgulu and Spada, would buy drugs in bulk in Essex and Wales before recruiting dealers to sell them in Cheshire. Their group were thought to be supplying around Alderley Edge in Cheshire, between November 2020 and January 2021.
Spada received £47,000 in accrued payment and was arrested on January 29, 2021, after police found £14,000 worth of cannabis and cocaine at his address. Gorgulu, of Manchester, had been supplying the drugs and the police spotted his selfie alongside texts about the case while checking one of Spada’s phones.
Gorgulu had used an alias to keep his identity private, however police found the selfie among messages related to drug-dealing, which he had sent to Spada.
The police were able to use the photo to identify Gorgulu and prove that he was involved in selling cocaine and cannabis. He was found guilty of planning to sell class A and B drugs after an eight-day trial at Chester Crown Court and jailed for six-and-a-half years. Spada was jailed for six years in October after admitting his guilt.
Speaking after sentencing, PC Sam Needham said: “Our investigation placed both Spada and Gorgulu at the head of the OCG, pocketing large amounts of money from their criminal activities.” Referring to the key part played by the selfie, he added: “Both were brought to court to be held accountable for their actions and, despite Gorgulu’s efforts to deny his involvement, both are now behind bars."
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