Chinese repeat offender gets 18 months for stealing gold necklace in Vietnam
Friday, March 15, 2024, 16:40 GMT+7
A court in Vietnam has sentenced a Chinese repeat thief to one year and six months in prison for stealing a gold necklace worth over US$1,770 at a jewelry shop in south-central Phu Yen Province last year.
The thief, Huang LinZhong, 48, hailing from Hunan Province in China, received the jail term from the provincial People’s Court on Friday for the offense of 'property theft' he committed in June 2023.
Huang was previously arrested on March 8, the very day when he was released after serving his nine-month sentence for the same crime carried out in Thua Thien-Hue Province in the central region.
On that day, a police team from Phu Yen served an arrest warrant on Huang right at the Vinh Quang Prison in northern Vinh Phuc Province, where he had just completed his nine-month jail term.
According to the case file, Huang entered Vietnam through Huu Nghi International Border Gate in the northern province of Lang Son on May 17, 2023, and then went south to Ho Chi Minh City to buy a motorbike.
On June 4, 2023, the Chinese man rode to Phu Yen with the intent to steal from jewelry stores.
At approximately 1:40 pm that day, he reached a jewelry store in Tuy Hoa City, where he feigned interest in purchasing jewelry and requested a salesperson to display five gold necklaces for his consideration.
While the sales attendant was distracted, Huang pocketed one necklace and returned the rest to the staff.
He promptly departed on his vehicle, and the salesperson shortly found one necklace missing, valued at VND44 million ($1,774).
After reviewing surveillance cameras, the store identified Huang's theft and reported it to local police, prompting a search for the suspect.
On his way back to the northern region, the man sold the gold necklace to a jewelry shop for VND16 million ($645).
Only three days later, June 7, 2023, Huang was apprehended for committing another jewelry theft in Hue City, Thua Thien-Hue Province, for which he received a nine-month jail term as aforementioned.
Phu Yen police waited for Huang to finish his jail term in Thua Thien Hue before arresting him.
His criminal records show a previous one-year-and-one-month sentence in China's Yunnan Province in 2016 for the same offense.
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