Singapore jails Vietnamese university student who broke into Apple office to return stolen goods
- Le Viet Hoang was sentenced to 11 months’ jail after pleading guilty to multiple charges, including theft
- He also learned how to pick locks and committed his crimes during the night where there was little chance of detection
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Published: 9:37am, 29 Dec, 2023
Updated: 9:37am, 29 Dec, 2023
Aiming to finance his expenses and to send money home to Vietnam, Le Viet Hoang broke into locked offices at Apple and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star) to steal items to sell for cash.
He was caught when he decided to return some of the stolen Apple products by breaking into its office again.
The 22-year-old Vietnamese university student was sentenced to 11 months’ jail on Thursday after he pleaded guilty to a charge of committing housebreaking, two theft charges, and one charge of committing housebreaking to commit an offence.
Six other similar charges were taken into consideration during sentencing.
The court heard that Hoang came to Singapore for an internship with A*Star as an assistant researcher.
He started work on May 22 this year and had a desk on level 9 of Innovis Building in the One-north district and he often worked late into the night.
Hoang also had access to all three levels of A*Star’s offices and realised that because there were no closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras around, he could move around undetected at night.
He wanted to sell them and use the money for his daily expenses, and to remit money back to his family in Vietnam.
Between June 1 and July 30, he would wait at his desk for everyone else to leave the office before proceeding to take various laptops, tablets and computer accessories back home.
Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Vishnu Menon said that Hoang also learned how to pick locks and took lock-picking tools with him to access locked sections of the office that contained more valuable items to steal.
The total value of the items stolen from level nine was at least S$2,998.88 (US$2,272).
Hoang ventured into A*Star’s office on level 10 as well where he stole items valued at a total of around S$26,525.07 (US$20,111).
All items except those sold by him were recovered. Full restitution was made by him to A*Star for the items sold.
Sometime in July this year, Hoang wanted to break into Apple’s offices in the same building, knowing that Apple products could be sold at higher prices.
However, he was wary about the many CCTV cameras in the Apple offices, which meant that he would not be able to move undetected.
On July 14, he learned of a building-wide power shutdown from 9pm on July 15 to 7am on July 16, and decided to capitalise on this to break into Apple’s offices since the CCTV would not be operating.
At about 1am on July 16, he made his way down from A*Star’s offices on level nine to Apple’s offices on level four via the emergency staircase.
He then picked the lock on the door to the Apple office where he stole a number of items such as iPads, iPhones and other Apple accessories, DPP Menon said.
These items were valued at a total of S$12,129.40 (US$9,197) and were recovered.
By the time his internship with A*Star was nearing its end, Hoang started to feel guilty for having stolen so many things.
He decided to break into Apple’s office on a Sunday evening to return four iPads and some charging cables.
His entry into the office triggered an alarm, which alerted Pusparaj Pantiyan, a 34-year-old security officer, who was patrolling level six of Innovis Building.
Pusparaj called the police to report the break-in before making his way to level four where Apple’s office was located.
Hoang was arrested after the guard found him hiding under a table with the four iPads and charging cables.
Seeking 12 months’ jail, DPP Menon argued that Hoang had abused the trust placed in him as an employee and roamed the A*Star offices taking what he pleased.
He said that there was also a high degree of premeditation and planning because Hoang had executed his crimes carefully over a two-month period, committing his crimes during the night where there was little chance of detection.
“The accused taught himself how to pick locks as well, using tools he purchased for this very purpose, evincing a high level of commitment to his criminal enterprise,” DPP Menon added.
For committing housebreaking to commit an offence, Hoang could have been jailed for up to 10 years and fined.
For each charge of committing theft in any building, he could also have been jailed for up to seven years and fined.
For committing housebreaking, he could have been jailed for up to three years or fined, or both.
This article was first published by Today Online
