She Ate Only the 'Chocolate' from Her Boyfriend... Woke Up to Find 15 Million Won Gone

Transferred 15 Million Won Using Victim's Fingerprint

A man in his 50s who gave his girlfriend sleeping pills to make her lose consciousness, then accessed her phone using her fingerprint and transferred 15 million won without permission, was sentenced to four years in prison in the second trial as well.

A man in his 50s who gave his girlfriend the sleeping pill 'Zolpidem' to make her faint and then accessed her phone using her fingerprint to transfer 15 million won without permission was sentenced to four years in prison in the second trial as well. Photo by Asia Economy DB

According to the legal community on September 17, the Gwangju High Court's 2nd Criminal Division (Presiding Judge Lee Euyeong) upheld the original sentence of four years in prison for Mr. A (53), who was indicted on charges of robbery, assault, violation of the Narcotics Control Act (psychotropic substances), and violation of the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection, among others. Mr. A was accused of giving his girlfriend, Ms. B, who is in her 40s, Zolpidem-a narcotic with sleeping pill properties-at a hotel in Gwangsan-gu, Gwangju, around 4 p.m. on March 15.

After Ms. B fell asleep, Mr. A unlocked her phone, reviewed her conversations, and upon discovering that she had been communicating with another man, used her fingerprint to transfer a total of 15 million won to his own account in five separate transactions. It was revealed that Mr. A had planned the crime after he accidentally overheard Ms. B talking to another man on the phone about a week before the incident and began suspecting an affair. The Zolpidem was a medication Mr. A had been prescribed and was taking from a medical institution.

The court of first instance stated, "Administering psychotropic medication to render Ms. B, with whom he was in a romantic relationship, unconscious in order to secretly access her phone using her fingerprint is a serious criminal act that is difficult to comprehend with normal reasoning," and emphasized, "This is a highly malicious crime, and the defendant bears significant culpability," sentencing him to four years in prison. The appellate court also noted, "The defendant committed this crime despite having multiple prior criminal convictions. However, considering that the robbery was not meticulously premeditated, the original sentence is deemed appropriate," and dismissed both the prosecution's and Mr. A's appeals.