May 7, 2010
Manager jailed for watch theft
<!-- by line --> By Elena Chong
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A FORMER service manager of a luxury watch distributor was jailed for three years on Friday for theft and criminal breach of trust of 12 timepieces. Leong Chee On, 54, made off with $483,700 worth of watches from Pacific Time, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cortina Watch Holdings, between October last year and Feb 12. The court heard that he pawned the stolen watches at Valuemax Pawnshop at Tampines Central 1 for cash. When the customers who had sent in their watches for repairs asked for the return of those watches, he would then proceed to steal more from the company to pawn them for money. He would use the money to redeem the watches that he had pawned earlier and return them to the office.
By doing so, he knew that he could avoid being found out especially since he had sole charge over the service department, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Ng Yiwen. Leong, who had carried out the scheme for more than a year, admitted to two counts of theft and one of criminal breach of trust of three watches. Leong had pleaded guilty to stealing a Wyler, a Porsche and a Chronoswiss watch, as well as misappropriating a $20,000 Concord watch. He admitted that he needed the money to pay off his debts as well as sustain his heavy expenses incurred from frequent visits to nightclubs. The watches were recovered from the pawnshop. He could have been jailed for up to seven years and fined on each of the three charges.
