Sentenced to 7 years in prison for man who repeatedly rented cars, pawned them for money and then went on the run

On November 11, Nghe An Provincial People's Court opened a first-instance criminal trial of defendant Le Van Duong (born 1985), residing in Dien Dong commune, Dien Chau district, for the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property".

According to the investigation agency’s documents, around the beginning of 2015, Le Van Duong worked as a granite cladding contractor for construction projects. Due to business losses and economic deficit, Duong came up with the idea of ​​renting a self-driving car to pawn to get money to pay off debts and for personal expenses.

Defendant Le Van Duong at the trial. Photo: Tran Vu

Accordingly, on May 17, 2016, Duong went to the house of Cao Van Canh, residing in Dien Thinh commune, Dien Chau district to rent a self-driving car. Duong told Canh to rent the car for 10 days to go to a construction site. Because he knew Duong from previous car rentals, Canh agreed to sign a car rental contract. After receiving the car, Duong used it to travel to several places, until May 23, 2016, when he pawned the car for 80 million VND, for a term of 1 month.

Then, on June 22, 2016, Duong went to the house of Mr. Pham Thanh Nam (born in 1987), residing in Dien Chau town, to rent a self-driving car. Mr. Nam agreed and signed a car rental contract for 800,000 VND/day, with a rental period of 3 days.

After receiving the car, Duong called his friend Hanh, saying he wanted to pawn his friend's car and asked him to take him to the pawn shop. Hanh agreed and took Duong to Vo Thi Thuy's house (living in Hoa Son commune, Do Luong district) to borrow 110 million VND to overturn the bank deed and this person agreed. Duong used the money from the pawn shop to pay off debts and personal expenses.

On June 26, 2016, Ms. Thuy heard that Duong was unable to pay, so she met Duong and his wife and asked them to write a loan note for 110 million VND. When the contract payment deadline came, Mr. Cao Van Canh and Mr. Pham Thanh Nam contacted Duong and asked him to return the car. However, due to business losses, the two cars were pawned and there was no money to get the cars back, so Duong cut off contact and fled to Ho Chi Minh City and Dak Nong province. On December 18, 2018, Le Van Duong was arrested under a wanted warrant.

According to the valuation record of the Dien Chau District Property Valuation Council, the car Duong rented and then mortgaged from Mr. Cao Xuan Canh is worth 370 million VND. The car Duong rented and then mortgaged from Mr. Pham Thanh Nam is worth 420 million VND.

At the trial, Le Van Duong admitted his crime. The victims filed a petition to reduce the defendant's sentence.

The panel of judges determined that the defendant’s actions were dangerous to society. In this case, the defendant had an aggravating circumstance of committing the crime multiple times. Considering the entire case, the court sentenced Le Van Duong to 7 years in prison for “fraudulent appropriation of property”.