Two sentences handed down to foster mother who tricked her son into pawning his car to traffic drugs.
(Baonghean.vn) - Phung Thi Hoa (residing in Thai Hoa town) borrowed her adopted son's vehicle to transport ore, but due to greed for high profits, she "pawned" her son's vehicle to get money for drug trafficking. While already serving a 20-year sentence for drug offenses, she is now facing trial again for another crime.
On February 3, 2021, the People's Court of Nghe An province brought defendant Phung Thi Hoa (born in 1959), residing in Quang Phong ward, Thai Hoa town, Nghe An province, to trial for the crime of..."Abuse of trust"misappropriation of property."
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| Defendant Phung Thi Hoa at the trial. Photo: An Quynh. |
After borrowing the car, Mrs. Hoa asked her biological son, Nguyen Van Phu, to retrieve it. Due to a lack of money for mining, Mrs. Hoa decided to pawn the car she borrowed from her adopted son. After discussing with a local lender, Mrs. Hoa instructed Phu to drive the car over and receive 300 million dong in cash; she would come later to sign the promissory note for the remaining amount.
About 3 or 4 days later, Ms. Hoa went to the Thong Thu border gate (Que Phong district, Nghe An province) to contact someone to buy ore and met an unknown man. This man invited Hoa to pool money with him to buy and sell drugs. Seeing the high profit potential, Ms. Hoa decided to use the money from "mortgaging" her adopted son's car to buy the drugs. After pooling the money, Ms. Hoa went to the Thong Thu border gate many times to find the man who had invested with her, but she couldn't find him.
When it was time to return the car, Kien called his adoptive mother. Fearing her son would find out, Mrs. Hoa lied, saying the car was stuck in Laos and extended the rental for another month at a price of 25 million dong. To convince her adoptive son of her "cover," Mrs. Hoa immediately transferred 10 million dong to Kien.
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| After the trial, the defendant Hoa was handed over to the police to serve her sentence. Photo: An Quynh |
On August 5, 2019, when she couldn't find the man who had shared the money with her in the drug trafficking operation, Ms. Hoa participated in another drug deal hoping to recoup some of her losses, but she was arrested by the Lao Cai Provincial Police and sentenced to 20 years in prison for "Illegal trafficking of narcotics".
After being tried by the Lao Cai Police, defendant Phung Thi Hoa was detained and subsequently tried again by the Nghe An Provincial People's Court for the crime of "Abusing trust to appropriate property".
At the trial, after repeated questioning, the defendant admitted to her crime. Considering aggravating and mitigating circumstances such as the defendant's bad criminal record, and the fact that she had previously been awarded the Youth Volunteer Medal by the President, the court decided to sentence Phung Thi Hoa to 13 years in prison for the crime of "Abusing and appropriating property". Combined with her previous sentence, the total time the defendant will serve is 30 years of imprisonment.
