Remorseless serial thief Michael Neo Eng Keong went on a criminal spree across six churches in Singapore, making away with $10,000 worth of loot last month.
He was finally shut down when he was identified through footage from a church's closed-circuit television camera. In court yesterday, the 35-year-old man was sentenced to eight years' imprisonment for three counts of theft and three other charges, The New Paper reports.
His spree began on Jan 3 when he made off with a red wallet containing $465 at a church along West Coast Road. The very next day, he stole a handbag with items worth $680 from a church in Pasir Panjang. Feeling emboldened, he made his way to Telok Ayer Chinese Methodist Church and took off with money and an iPad from an unattended handbag. On Jan 10, he targeted True Way Presbytarian Church, heading to a wedding reception and made his move on another unattended handbag, taking the money out and dumping the bag at a nearby HDB block. He then hit two more churches the next day, plundering a Louis Vuitton bag worth $5,000 and other items.
It was through CCTV footage from Telok Ayer Chinese Methodist Church that Neo's identity was established and lead to his arrest.
Reportedly, Neo has a long history of repeated theft offences since 1992 and has already been sentenced to jail and corrective training before. Though it may seem that he could be suffering from kleptomania, the District Judge noted that he does not suffer from any mental illnesses.
Photo: Victor via Flickr
Remorseless serial thief Michael Neo Eng Keong went on a criminal spree across six churches in Singapore, making away with $10,000 worth of loot last month.
He was finally shut down when he was identified through footage from a church's closed-circuit television camera. In court yesterday, the 35-year-old man was sentenced to eight years' imprisonment for three counts of theft and three other charges, The New Paper reports.
His spree began on Jan 3 when he made off with a red wallet containing $465 at a church along West Coast Road. The very next day, he stole a handbag with items worth $680 from a church in Pasir Panjang. Feeling emboldened, he made his way to Telok Ayer Chinese Methodist Church and took off with money and an iPad from an unattended handbag. On Jan 10, he targeted True Way Presbytarian Church, heading to a wedding reception and made his move on another unattended handbag, taking the money out and dumping the bag at a nearby HDB block. He then hit two more churches the next day, plundering a Louis Vuitton bag worth $5,000 and other items.
It was through CCTV footage from Telok Ayer Chinese Methodist Church that Neo's identity was established and lead to his arrest.
Reportedly, Neo has a long history of repeated theft offences since 1992 and has already been sentenced to jail and corrective training before. Though it may seem that he could be suffering from kleptomania, the District Judge noted that he does not suffer from any mental illnesses.
Photo: Victor via Flickr