By Vir B. Lumicao
 |
| None of the $138,100 worth of stolen jewelry was recovered. |
A Filipina helper who stole her employer’s Hermes watch and jewelry worth
an estimated $138,100, has been sentenced to eight months in jail
by an Eastern Court
magistrate.
Jenny Lou Nualan, 33 and single, was sentenced by Magistrate
Bina Chainrai on Oct 17 after she pleaded guilty to two counts of theft.
Nualan was originally charged on Oct 3 with theft of a
Hermes watch, a bracelet, a pair of diamond earrings and a necklace belonging
to her employer Wu Ping-yi between Apr 8, 2018 and Jan 31 this year.
But the prosecution split the charge into two, one stating
the first offense took place between May 2017 and Sept 14, 2019 and the second
between June 2016 and Sept 14.
The first charge covered Nualan's theft of a black Hermes watch
valued at $74,500 and a gold Hermes bracelet worth $51,600. The second pertained to her stealing a pair of diamond earrings valued at $4,000 and a platinum
necklace valued at $8,000.
The uninsured watch and jewelry were never recovered as their
pawn tickets had either expired or been lost, the prosecution said.
Nualan started working at Wu's house at Tropicana Court in South Bay in June 2016.
On Sept 14, Wu discovered that her Hermes watch and Hermes
bracelet were missing from an unlocked drawer in her bedroom, along with a pair of diamond earrings and the platinum necklace she kept in an unlocked
drawer in her toilet.
Wu asked the maid about the missing items and Nualan
admitted she had pawned them. The helper produced the pawn tickets for the
watch, earrings and necklace. She said she had hocked the bracelet at Cheuk
Fung Pawnshop but lost the pawn ticket.
The employer reported the theft to police on Sept 26. Nualan
was arrested and she admitted stealing the four missing items out of greed, a
prosecution report said.
The owner of Shing Fung Pawnshop told investigators that
Nualan had pawned a necklace and a pendant on Apr 8 last year for $500, but
neither the brand nor the serial number was found in the company's records.
Police also went to Cheuk Fung Pawnshop and discovered that Nualan
had pawned one 18-karat gold necklace, a pair of earrings and a diamond pendant
for $1,000 on Jan 31 this year. But no records of the brand and serial numbers and
no photographs of the items were taken.
As the pawn tickets had expired, the police were not able to
recover them.
The bracelet was pawned on May 29 but Nualan said she had
lost the pawn ticket.
The defense lawyer said his client admitted she had pawned
the missing items for a total of $4,000 and sent $2,000 to her mother in the Philippines who
had a heart ailment.
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