Japanese Woman Sentenced to Prison for Fleeing After Renting Expensive Camera in Korea

A Japanese woman who rented expensive cameras from a domestic rental store and failed to return them was sentenced to prison.

Judge Kim Ji-hoo of the Incheon District Court Criminal Division 2 sentenced Ms. A, a Japanese national in her 30s who was indicted on fraud charges, to 10 months in prison at the sentencing hearing held on the 10th.

Ms. A was tried on charges of renting cameras and lenses worth approximately 40.8 million won three times from a domestic camera rental store between January and April, then failing to return them and embezzling the equipment.

Japanese woman renting a camera [Provided by Incheon Police Agency]

In April, Ms. A was caught by police at Incheon Airport while attempting to leave the country with the rented camera equipment. The rental store owner reported to the police after the GPS signal installed on the camera was detected at the airport.

It was investigated that Ms. A lost her passport, obtained a new one, and rented the camera using her old passport as collateral. She also took some of the rented cameras and lenses out of the country and sold them in Japan.

Judge Kim stated, "The defendant admits to the crime, and the evidence confirms guilt. Considering the circumstances and method of the crime, the nature of the offense is serious, and no settlement has been reached with the victims."

However, he explained the sentencing reasoning by saying, "The defendant acknowledges her wrongdoing and is remorseful, and some of the stolen items were seized and returned to the victims."

Earlier, the prosecution requested a sentence of 1 year and 6 months in prison for Ms. A at the closing arguments on the 20th of last month.