A 57-year-old man has been sentenced to eight months in prison, of which four months are conditional, for defrauding a liquor store in Borger and a hotel in Loon. The former resident of Wildervank had just served a prison sentence for fraud when he struck in Drenthe last year.
The man was also sentenced for defrauding two residents of Portugal. The Portuguese thought they were buying second-hand cars from the man. The man in his fifties posed as a car salesman from a car company in Emmen, where he had worked as a salesman in the past. The Portuguese deposited a total of more than 20,000 euros into the man’s account. The cars were not delivered.
In April he told the owner of the liquor store in Borger that he was organizing a training weekend in Papenvoort. Due to a misunderstanding, the drinks order was not delivered by another company and the order no longer arrived, the man told the entrepreneur in Borger. The liquor store in Borger helped him out.
The suspect ordered more than 700 euros worth of (soft) drinks. What was left could be returned, was the agreement. After that weekend, the entrepreneur checked whether anything needed to be retrieved. Everything had been distributed, the customer said and the invoice would be transferred immediately. However, the bill remained unpaid and the entrepreneur filed a report.
The rogue customer had used his own name when placing the order. It occurred in the police system. The man was sentenced to a year in prison in 2019 for defrauding butchers in Musselkanaal, Aalden and Coevorden, among others, in 2017. He also duped bicycle shops at the time by ordering electric bicycles and not paying for them, or he stayed overnight in hotels without paying for them. to pay.
Because the man has no permanent place of residence, it took several months before he was identified by the police. In November, the owner of a hotel in Loon reported fraud. A guest disappeared without paying for his three-day stay. The name used to register turned out to be false.
Based on his personal description and the license plate of the car he was driving around, the suspect was arrested at the end of last year. He has been in custody ever since. On the advice of his lawyer, the man invoked his right to remain silent to the police. The man confessed to the judge. He had accumulated large debts due to a gambling addiction, the man said.
He wanted to come clean now. The public prosecutor said he was ‘becoming cynical about this story’. The prosecutor demanded a prison sentence of eight months. The lawyer pointed out that the suspect had always intended to pay, but due to circumstances he was unable to do so. He proposed reducing the sentence to four months.
The judge opted for a partially suspended sentence, as a stick behind the door. “You will remain in custody until you have served your sentence, even if you appeal,” the judge ruled. As soon as the sentence is over, the man in his fifties will be transferred to Germany, where the justice system still has a bone to settle with the man. He is also suspected of five fraud cases there.