An employee responsible for managing a rental warehouse in Songpa-gu, Seoul, who was charged with stealing tens of billions of won in cash stored in the warehouse, has been sentenced to prison in the first trial.
On April 24, the Seoul Eastern District Court Criminal Division 9 (Presiding Judge Lee Jungmin) sentenced Mr. Shim, a man in his 40s, to four years in prison on charges including nighttime burglary and theft, and ordered the confiscation of some of the items seized in connection with the concealment of the stolen cash.
The court stated, "The defendant, as an employee of the warehouse rental company, committed the crime by entering a space rented by a customer without authorization," and added, "He planned the theft over seven days and carried it out in a premeditated manner. Given the methods used to conceal and hide the crime, the defendant is highly blameworthy." The court further noted, "The defendant undermined trust in the entire warehouse operation system, and a significant portion of the stolen funds has yet to be recovered. There are also questionable aspects in the defendant's statements regarding the circumstances of the crime, raising doubts as to whether he is truly remorseful."
Previously, Mr. Shim was indicted and detained on charges of stealing at least 4 billion won in cash from a rental warehouse near Jamsil Station in Songpa-gu, where he was responsible for management, between 7 p.m. on September 12 and 1 a.m. the following day last year. He used a master code for employees to open the victim's storage unit, transferred bundles of cash into a suitcase he had brought, and demonstrated meticulousness by unplugging the CCTV power cord and damaging the CCTV hard disk before and after the crime. Although the reported amount stolen at the time was said to be 6.8 billion won, Mr. Shim claims he stole 4.3 billion won.
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