Two men from Amersfoort (69) and Deventer (42) have caused “a trail of misery” among event agencies in the Netherlands. Expensive DJ equipment was rented in Roden and not returned. This became apparent in the court in Assen.
The man from Deventer did not appear. He was only involved in the theft in Roden in January this year. More than 3,000 euros worth of equipment was taken. The Deventer provided his own details, and both men left a copy of their passports. This made it child’s play to track them down.
The man from Deventer acknowledged the theft to the police. The rented property was resold via Marktplaats. In addition to 70 hours of community service, he must serve a previously imposed prison sentence of one month and pay the Roner company damages of 1,870 euros.
The older co-suspect did appear. He is in pre-trial detention for new similar offences. “He just kept going,” the prosecutor said. The suspect could not remember the case in Roden. But both suspects are recognizable on camera images. “Just because he is on screen does not mean that it is sufficient evidence,” his lawyer said.
Ultimately, the suspect was found guilty of seven counts of embezzlement and one count of defrauding rented equipment.
The fraud conviction is anomalous because in that case he used a false name. The man was active from September 2023 to March 2024 throughout the Netherlands. In Rogat the man did not rent sound equipment but scaffolding material. The man was homeless at the time. He received shelter, food and drinks and pocket money from ‘friends’. Instead, he received telephone numbers of companies where he had to place orders.
He collected the orders himself and delivered them to his ‘benefactors’. He didn’t know what else happened to the goods, he said.
Naive, he admitted this himself. He worked all his life, but became depressed when he lost everything. He hit the wall. The man met his ‘new friends’ after serving a nine-month prison sentence in Belgium. “You have done little to conceal your identity from the rental companies,” the judge said. He compared the man to a catcher who did not show the back of his tongue.
The public prosecutor demanded a prison sentence of eight months. The judge finds six months sufficient. The Amersfoorter must pay damages totaling more than 6,400 euros.