A 44-year-old man from Meppel was sentenced to fifteen months in prison for setting fire to a delivery van in Hoogeveen and theft. A year and a half had been demanded against him.
De Meppeler took a DJ set from the van in Hoogeveen on December 5 last year. A nearby camera recorded the theft. The man drove off with the loot on a scooter. Moments later, an identical scooter arrived and the bus was set on fire.
Shortly after the theft, the agents saw a similar scooter at a casino in Hoogeveen. There was also a box with the DJ set. The man wouldn’t say how he got it. Only at the hearing did he come up with the story that he almost collided with another scooter rider that evening, who lost the box in the process.
The judge found that scenario unbelievable. There was enough evidence to convict the Meppeler of breaking into the bus and arson. He was wearing the same coat as the man in the footage and his gloves had burn marks.
The man was also sentenced for a burglary in July in Stieltjeskanaal. He then tried with a comrade to steal a trailer with items, which had been taken from the barn of a farm. The farm was closed because a drug lab had been discovered there earlier. The neighbor saw the men busy and called the police.
The man has a substantial criminal record and was still on probation for a previously imposed eight-week suspended prison sentence. He has to sit through that too.