Man takes S$11,000 from 10 donation boxes, spends S$10,000 on illegal substances

SINGAPORE: What was supposed to be money for donation turned out to be a man’s debt solution when he stole 10 donation boxes from a coffee shop after an employee forgot to put them inside the store. As reported by Shin Min Daily News, the suspect was able to use more than $10,000 of the stolen money to pay off his drug debts, resulting in four months and four weeks’ imprisonment, given on Oct 27 this year.

Case details revealed that the 29-year-old suspect now faces two counts of theft and one count of violating the Private Security Industry Act. He then pleaded guilty to two of the charges, and the other one is to be considered by the judge. 

Further investigations stated that the coffee shop was located at Geylang East Avenue 1, and the employee placed 10 donation boxes on the iron rack of the coffee shop. The funds that were collected through these boxes will be donated to organisations that are in need. 

However, on Jun 13 of this year, the coffee shop employee forgot to put the iron rack inside the coffee shop, which gave the suspect the opportunity to steal. The suspect allegedly grabbed a large bucket of dirty dishes near the coffee shop, put the donation boxes inside, and then placed the bucket on a cart before pushing it away. The suspect opened the donation boxes and took $11,000. 

After knowing about the crime, the owner of the shop reported the theft to the police. Fortunately, the police were able to arrest the suspect on Jun 30 but only recovered an amount of $166 and small amounts of foreign currency from him. 

It was discovered that the man spent $1,000 on his personal expenses, and the remaining $10,000 was used to pay off his debts from buying illegal substances. 

For this crime, the suspect was sentenced to four months and four weeks in jail, with an additional 31 days due to a crime he committed while he was on parole. 

In other news, there was a report that a Singaporean woman experienced unbearable pain after getting a tooth filling from a dentist in Johor Bahru. 

With this, she had to get another filling, which caused her more problems and more financial stress. 

Read more about the news story here.