The long slide of a guy who rented a self-driving car twice and pawned it

One day in the first half of November, Le Van Duong (34 years old), residing in Dien Dong commune, Dien Chau district, was taken to the People's Court of Nghe An province to be tried for the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property". Short and stocky, with dark skin, Duong looked mature and experienced.

Le Van Duong once held the position of Deputy Secretary of the Commune Youth Union. After that, Duong changed direction and entered the business path. At first, the business was quite favorable, but since 2015, the business of granite cladding for construction projects has been losing money. Business has been going downhill, combined with debt due to gambling, causing Duong to come up with the idea of ​​renting a self-driving car to pawn to get money to pay off debt and for personal expenses.

Thinking is doing, on May 17, 2016, Duong went to Mr. Cao Van Canh's house (living in Dien Thinh commune) to discuss renting a self-driving car for 10 days. Because he knew Duong before, Mr. Canh agreed to make a car rental contract. After receiving the car for 5 days, Duong pawned it for 80 million VND, with a term of 1 month.

Le Van Duong at the time of his arrest under a wanted warrant (documentary photo)

After the first successful mission, on June 22, 2016, Duong went to Mr. Pham Thanh Nam's house (living in Dien Chau town) to rent a self-driving car for 800,000 VND/day. After receiving the car, Duong immediately asked a friend to take it to Ms. Thuy's house (Do Luong district) to pawn it for 110 million VND. Duong used the money for personal expenses and debt repayment. Therefore, when the contract payment deadline came, Duong was unable to pay, so he cut off contact and fled. In November 2016, Dien Chau district police issued a wanted notice for Le Van Duong for the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property".

After leaving the locality, Duong went into hiding in the Central Highlands provinces. During the investigation, the authorities encountered many difficulties in verifying and tracking this subject. Because Duong is a subject with many tricks to hide his identity. Meanwhile, his family did not cooperate in persuading and calling on him to surrender to receive leniency from the law.

It was not until early December 2018 that detectives determined that Duong was hiding in the Central Highlands provinces. In order to avoid revealing his identity, this subject did not stay in one place but often moved to many different locations with many different jobs.

On December 12, 2018, Nghe An police established a special project to capture the fugitive Le Van Duong. Persistently following the area, searching for clues of the subject, after a period of investigation, the police obtained information that after fleeing to Dak Lak, Duong moved to Cu Jut district (Dak Nong) to live. Here, this subject went to the forest to farm, hiding under the guise of a simple, honest man, living in harmony with the neighbors. Immediately, the detectives coordinated with the local police to verify and deploy a plan to surround and capture the subject, determined not to let the subject escape.

On December 18, 2018, Le Van Duong was arrested at a coffee shop in Cu Jut district (Dak Nong).

At the trial, Le Van Duong admitted to his crime. Defendant Duong confessed that he took the risk to get money to pay off his debt. “When I fled to the South, I did not know that the police were looking for me,” Duong said about the reason for his escape.

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

According to the valuation record of the Dien Chau District Property Valuation Council, the two cars that Le Van Duong rented and then mortgaged from the two victims are worth 790 million VND.

The panel of judges determined that the actions of the defendant Le Van Duong seriously violated the property rights of others. In particular, although he was unable to return the property in the first fraud, the defendant still intentionally committed the fraud a second time. Therefore, the defendant had the aggravating circumstance of committing the crime multiple times.

Furthermore, in 2013, the defendant was sentenced by the People's Court of Dien Chau district to 4 months in prison with a suspended sentence, probation for 12 months for gambling, but did not take that as a lesson, showing contempt for the law. Considering the case in its entirety, the court sentenced Le Van Duong to 7 years in prison for "fraudulent appropriation of property".