Chilean couple jailed for stealing $27,118 from 3 people

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Chilean couple jailed for stealing $27,118 from 3 people

Published on Apr 25, 2012

A Chilean couple were jailed for two years each on Wednesday for stealing a total of $27,118 from three people. -- ST PHOTO: LAU FOOK KONG

By Elena Chong

A Chilean couple were jailed for two years each on Wednesday for stealing a total of $27,118 from three people.

Octavio Guillermo Silva Arancibia, 63, and Marisol Del Carmen Godoy Vivanco, 51, admitted to three charges of theft.

They stole $10,000 from Mrs Neithalath Prasanna Menon, 58, a life planner, on Mach 14; $12,619 from despatch rider Kosari Hassan, 64, on Nov 8 last year; and $4,500 from Ms Fumi Ushimaru, a project coordinator, on March 20 this year.

The court heard that the couple, who are in a relationship, would visit banks and moneychanger to look for a target, particularly someone who had withdrawn or exchanged a large sum of money.

Read the full story in Wednesday's edition of The Straits Times.

 

[Klytus]

Couple threw smelly liquid to distract theft victims
Chilean pair jailed for stealing $27,119 from three people

Published on Apr 26, 2012

Silva Arancibia (left) and Godoy Vivanco were arrested at Changi Airport in March. They were each jailed for two years. -- PHOTO: SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE

By Elena Chong, Court Correspondent

A couple from Chile resorted to dirty tactics to distract three victims before making off with money they had withdrawn earlier from banks.

Octavio Guillermo Silva Arancibia, 63, and Marisol Del Carmen Godoy Vivanco, 51, created a diversion by throwing a foul-smelling liquid on the victims and offering to help them clean up.

On Wednesday, they were each sentenced to two years' jail for stealing a total of $27,119 from two women and a man between last November and March this year, in a ruse that the authorities say is the first of its kind ever prosecuted here.

Assistant Public Prosecutor Kalaiselvi Balakrishnan told the court last week that on Nov 8, dispatch rider Kosari Hassan, 64, was returning to the office after withdrawing $12,619 from HSBC when he felt something drop on his back.

Read the full story in Thursday's edition of The Straits Times.