Gambler rents car and mortgages it to pay off debt
(Baonghean.vn) - Having lost all his money gambling, Duc came up with the idea of renting a car to pawn it to pay off his gambling debts. That guy had to pay the price for his crime.
On November 30, Nghe An Provincial People's Court opened a first-instance criminal trial of defendant Thai Van Duc (born 1995), residing in Long Xa commune, Hung Nguyen district (Nghe An) for three crimes of "Fraudulent appropriation of property", "Gambling", "Using fake documents of agencies and organizations".
The four defendants, including Vo Trung Hieu (born in 1991), Hoang Van Giang (born in 1992), both residing in Hung Loc commune, Vinh city; Nguyen Van Thuyen (born in 1993), residing in Nghi Trung commune, Nghi Loc district; Tran Viet Thong (born in 1991), residing in Nghi Phong commune, Nghi Loc district, were prosecuted for the crime of "Gambling".
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| Defendants at trial. Photo: Tran Vu |
According to the indictment, at around 2:00 p.m. on February 26, 2021, at an abandoned house in Hung Loc commune, the subjects including Thai Van Duc, Vo Trung Hieu, Hoang Van Giang, Nguyen Van Thuyen, and Tran Viet Thong participated in gambling by shaking dice.
The total amount of money the subjects used for gambling was more than 225 million VND. Of which, Duc used 200 million VND for gambling, Giang 3.5 million VND, Thong 1.5 million VND, Thuyen 20 million VND.
Because he lost all his money gambling, Duc came up with the idea of renting a self-driving car and pawning it to get money to pay off his gambling debts and for personal expenses.
Because he did not have a driver's license, Duc asked Vo Trung Hieu to rent a car from Nguyen Quoc Tan (Vinh City), depositing 5 million VND in advance.
Having rented a car, Duc pawned it to Nguyen Van Nhuong for 250 million VND. When the appointment came, Nhuong contacted Duc but he did not have the money to redeem the car. Therefore, Duc used fake documents in his name including: Car registration and Driver's license to pawn it to another person for 600 million VND, valid for 30 days.
On March 27, 2021, Nguyen Quoc Tan filed a complaint against Duc with the police. Two days later, the police detained Thai Van Duc on an emergency basis. On March 30, Hieu, Giang, Thong, and Thuyen surrendered to the police.
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| Defendant Thai Van Duc was brought to trial on three charges. Photo: Tran Vu |
The property valuation council concluded that the value of the car that Duc rented from Mr. Tan and then mortgaged was 650 million VND.
At the trial, the defendants admitted their crimes and asked for a reduced sentence.
Considering the role of each defendant in the case, the panel sentenced Thai Van Duc to 13 years in prison for Fraudulent Appropriation of Property, 3 years in prison for Gambling, and 9 months in prison for Using Forged Documents of Agencies and Organizations. The total sentence Duc must serve is 16 years and 9 months in prison.
Defendant Vo Trung Hieu was sentenced to 12 months in prison (plus a 6-month sentence that has not been served for the crime of Intentional Damage to Property, forcing Hieu to serve an 18-month sentence), defendant Nguyen Van Thuyen was sentenced to 18 months in prison; 2 defendants Tran Viet Thong and Hoang Van Giang were each sentenced to 15 months in prison, suspended, for the crime of Gambling.
