A 38-year-old maid from the Philippines has been given five months of jail time for stealing $8,406 worth of items from her employer.
On Thursday (June 9), she pleaded guilty to one count of theft, according to Shin Min Daily News.
The maid started working for her employer in October 2018 and according to police investigations, she committed the thefts between February 2021 and December 2021.
Her loot included one gold bar, five gold chains, two gold necklaces, a pendant, a mobile phone, a red packet containing $400, a charger and even a $1 eyebrow pencil.
The employer first got suspicious after finding several pawn tickets in the maid's possession earlier in April this year.
She then realised that a number of items listed in the pawn tickets sounded familiar and upon checking her room, she found that her valuables had gone missing.
The employer then confronted the maid, who admitted to stealing. After which, the employer reported the maid to the maid agency as well as to the police.
Upon further police investigations, the maid admitted that she knew her employer would hide valuables in the study and bedroom cupboards, and while doing housework, she would steal these items.
She would then take the valuables to the pawnshop and send the money back to her hometown.
The police have tried to retrieve the items from the pawnshop and most of the items were found except for the gold bars, a gold chain and the red packet containing $400.
Earlier in January this year, there was a similar incident where an Indonesian maid had stolen 74 items worth $2,000 from her employer. She was jailed for six weeks.
In a separate case that was also reported in January, another maid stole $28,200 worth of items from an elderly woman with dementia.
melissateo@asiaone.com
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