Last year a contractor worker in Yilan County surnamed Tseng committed several acts of theft, for which he was given a 26-month jail sentence. Taking into account that Tseng still had to care for his parents and two children, the judge ruled that his jail term could be commuted to a fine of NT$780,000. In order to raise the money to pay the fine, Tseng returned to his old tricks and recently committed theft on at least six occasions before being found out by police.
In late June and early July last year, Tseng, a 40-year-old manual worker, drove around in his car late at night looking for cars parked by the roadside and in front of residences to steal what was in them. Over a period of more than a month, he stole the contents of 10 cars. The loot included health food products, credentials, baby walkers, account books, hair product catalogs, insurance cards and women’s nutritional supplements, all to a value of less than NT$100,000. The valuable cars, however, were left by the roadside, causing investigators to call Tseng a “quirky thief.”
Tseng had been released after two months in detention, but, according to his confession, he could not afford to pay the fine issued by the court. Beginning last month, he started scouring Yilan County for targets, driving around in a stolen car so as to avoid being identified and escape arrest. Tseng stole almost anything he could get his hands on: potted plants, fruit from shops, fish products, metal scraps from construction sites, tool boxes, anything. Yilan police arrested Tseng late in the night on April 8 and indicted him for theft the next day.
Photo: Chiang Chih-hsiung, Liberty Times
照片:自由時報記者江志雄
(Liberty Times, translated by Perry Svensson)
宜蘭縣曾姓承包工人,去年曾犯下竊盜案,被判兩年兩個月徒刑,法官審酌他尚需扶養父母及兩名年幼小孩,諭知得易科七十八萬元罰金,曾男為籌措罰金重施故技,最近至少再犯六起竊案,被警方查獲。
Photo: Chiang Chih-hsiung, Liberty Times, courtesy of Yilan County police
照片:自由時報記者江志雄翻攝
去年六月底到七月上旬,曾姓工人(四十歲)深夜開車出外閒晃,專找停靠路邊、住戶門前車輛行竊,一個多月作案十次,得手後把車內物品偷光光,贓物包括保健食品、證件、幼兒學步車、收支帳冊、美髮目錄、保險卡、女性營養品,總值不到十萬元,值錢贓車卻棄置路旁,被辦案人員視為「怪賊」。
曾姓工人被羈押兩個月後獲釋,他供稱無力負擔法院罰金,上個月起,在宜蘭縣內尋找作案目標,竊取汽車代步,藉以規避查緝,曾男幾乎無所不偷,盆栽、店家水果、魚貨、工地鐵材、工具箱,什麼東西都好,宜蘭警分局四月八日深夜將他逮捕到案,次日依竊盜罪嫌移送法辦。
(自由時報記者江志雄)
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