A fraudster who changed his identity and went into hiding after being sentenced to prison while on trial without detention has been apprehended by prosecutors.
On November 6, the Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office announced that it had arrested A (age 23), who had been sentenced to two years in prison for fraud but had not yet served the sentence.
A person sentenced to imprisonment who has not yet served the sentence refers to someone who has been given a prison or jail sentence by the court but went missing or fled before being taken into custody.
In December 2021, A used a fake lease agreement, created with a false landlord, to fraudulently obtain 100 million won in youth jeonse (lease deposit) loans from a financial institution.
He was indicted without detention in April 2023 and was sentenced to two years in prison in May last year.
After the verdict was finalized, prosecutors tracked A's whereabouts and arrested him at a location in Daejeon on October 30, one year and five months after the sentencing. Due to a complicated family situation, A had a unique background in which he was registered under different names and resident registration numbers on two separate family registry documents.
He also attempted to "launder" his identity by deleting the family registry document related to his fraud crime.
A prosecution official stated, "We will actively and persistently track and apprehend those who have not served their sentences and whose imprisonment is at risk of being prolonged."
According to the Ministry of Justice, as of the first half of this year, there were 2,440 people who had been sentenced to imprisonment but had not yet served their sentences. The numbers have remained above 2,000 each year, with 2,065 in 2020, 2,504 in 2021, 2,465 in 2022, 2,393 in 2023, and 2,544 in 2024.
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