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SINGAPORE: A man who saw an iPhone worth S $ 1,000 in a patch of grass near an HDB block in Ang Mo Kio took it home and did not return it to the owner.
The owner, whose phone had fallen from his open fanny pack, filed a police report and the defendant was eventually located.
On Thursday (September 10), 30-year-old Tan Yiap Ming was fined S $ 3,000 in court on one count of dishonest misappropriation.
The court heard that the owner of the phone, a Mr. Wang, had been walking in an Ang Mo Kio housing estate with the iPhone XR in his fanny pack on December 14 last year.
Near Block 202 at Ang Mo Kio Avenue 3, Mr. Wang’s phone fell out of his bag, which was not closed.
About 10 minutes later, Tan walked by, saw the phone lying on a patch of grass, and put it away.
Mr. Wang soon realized that his phone was missing and filed a police report.
Authorities discovered that there had been multiple attempts to activate the phone and managed to trace it to Tan.
They found him at his home on March 12, about three months after he got lost. Tan had made no effort to trace the phone back to its owner and did not turn it over to authorities.
The prosecutor requested a fine of at least S $ 3,000, noting that Tan had prior convictions for dishonest misappropriation in 2019 and robbery in 2010.
Tan initially said that he wanted to return the phone but did not have time and was afraid to go to the police station. She also said that she tried to unlock the phone to locate the owner, but could not. However, she withdrew these statements when told that she qualified her allegation.
The prosecutor noted that investigations showed that Tan had connected his phone to his home WiFi. Tan had also given another account of why he had not returned the phone to investigators, saying he was scared due to his previous convictions.
Tan said he is now working in a warehouse and did not want to say anything to mitigate it.
District Judge Jasvender Kaur told her that she was going to court a third time for dishonesty and that she had received counseling from a counselor in 2010, but she did not learn from it.
“There are many temptations in life,” he said. “If you see something there, you want to take it, but you should not take it. It’s that simple. If you come to court for the fourth time, you should go to jail, is that clear? Be a fool and be tempted.”
Tan wiped the tears from his eyes when he heard this and agreed.
He was allowed to pay his fine in installments of S $ 1,000.
For dishonest embezzlement, you could have been jailed for up to two years, fined, or both.
