Jail for pawnshop runner who kept luxury watches for himself and lied to police he was robbed

SINGAPORE - A pawnshop runner kept luxury watches and jewellery worth over $70,000 for himself when he was supposed to sell the items and, to cover his tracks, lied to the police that he was robbed.

Kang Eng Boo, 60, pleaded guilty to one charge of criminal breach of trust and another charge of giving false information to the police on Friday and was sentenced to 10 months and two weeks’ jail for his crimes.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Rimplejit Kaur said that at the time of his offences, Kang had been working at a pawnshop in Temple Street for over 10 years.

His job was to sell the second-hand watches and jewellery that were consigned to him by the pawnshop. If he sold any of these consigned items, he was required to hand over the proceeds to the pawnshop. If the items were not sold, he would have to return them to the shop.

Between June and August 2020, Kang was entrusted with four Rolex watches, an Omega watch, a Franck Muller watch and a diamond bracelet worth a total of $70,058.

The items were handed to Kang for him to sell to those interested in purchasing second-hand watches and jewellery.

When he returned to the pawnshop on Aug 11 that year, he told the shop’s administrative assistant, S, that he had sold three of the seven items, but someone had stolen the bag containing the proceeds as well as the four unsold items.

When probed further, Kang refused to provide details of whom he sold the three items to. 

On Aug 14, Kang confessed to S that he had lodged a false police report of snatch theft on Aug 9 and told S he had misplaced the bag containing the items and cash.

He promised to pay half of the total value of the items to S’ boss but when he did not do so, a police report was lodged against him.

During police investigations, Kang initially claimed that he was a victim of snatch theft but subsequently changed his account and said he had misplaced his bag at a unit in Lorong 14 Geylang on Aug 8.

He was found to be lying after investigations showed that he was never in that area on that date. Instead, he had taken the items for himself, rather than return them to the pawnshop.

He has not made any restitution to date.

Those who commit criminal breach of trust can be jailed for up to seven years, fined, or both.

Those found guilty of giving false information to a public servant can be jailed for up to two years, fined, or both.