Driver sentenced to 5 years for stealing gold from boss
Source:Global Times Published: 2012-8-6 23:35:06
A Jiangsu Province man has been sentenced to five years in prison and fined 10,000 yuan ($1,569) for stealing 37 cartons of cigarettes and four gold bars from his boss, a local court announced Monday. The items were valued at 148,730 yuan.
The defendant, Lu Ping, 29, worked as a driver for a local business man surnamed Wang. Lu got the idea to steal from his boss in November 2011 after he saw Wang put several cartons of cigarettes into the trunk of his car, according to a news release from the Shanghai Zhabei District People's Court.
In his confession, Lu told police that he thought he could sell the cigarettes and use the profits to repay a gambling debt, according to the news release.
Lu grew bolder after he stole the cigarettes without his boss noticing.
In December, he saw that Wang had left his apartment keys in his office, the court said.
Lu used the keys to break into Wang's apartment, where he stole a jewelry box that contained four bars of gold that weighed a total of 400 grams.
This time his boss noticed. Wang reported the theft to police, who soon turned to Lu as their primary suspect because he was the only person who knew Wang had bought the gold. Lu later turned himself in.
Lu's father later returned the gold bars and paid Wang the money that Lu earned selling the cigarettes.
The court found that Lu was a repeat offender who had just finished serving four years in jail for committing theft in 2009, the same year that Wang hired him.