187,000 francs Security guard steals 118 laptops from Suva Lucerne

A security guard has been sentenced by the Lucerne Criminal Court. Among other things, he stole 118 laptops from Suva Lucerne.

118 laptops, 17 notebook bags, two charging cables, five mice, a keyboard, a stamp and 45 envelopes disappeared from two Suva buildings in Lucerne last winter. Now the thief has been sentenced by the Lucerne Criminal Court. Of all people, it was a Suva security employee himself.

It all began in the period from November 26, 2022 to March 3, 2023, just three months after the 36-year-old Slovenian started the job. His job was to guard the buildings at night, but he stole mostly new and used notebooks and more. The total value of the stolen goods amounts to 187,957.95 francs.

He sent at least 29 of the stolen notebooks to friends and acquaintances in Slovenia. However, he did not tell them that the laptops were stolen goods.

Sold the stolen goods for 500 francs

In order to claim that he had bought the devices himself, he used a processing program to forge delivery bills and entered the sales price of 500 francs on each one. He signed the delivery bills with the stamp that he had previously stolen from the Suva premises, writes "20 Minuten". "In this way, he repeatedly created a false and untrue document," the court ruling states.

During a house search, the police found an air pistol and an illegal baton. The perpetrator was convicted for the evidence found in his home and the theft offense.

The criminal court deemed his behavior to be "particularly reprehensible". The reason for this is that the thefts were committed as part of his work as a security guard. "It would have been his job to ensure law and order. Instead, he became a criminal himself," the verdict states. It goes on to say: "Only his transfer to custody prevented him from committing further thefts and forging documents". The 36-year-old had been working until his arrest.

Six months behind bars

In the end, the man was convicted of multiple thefts, multiple forgery of documents, gross violation of traffic regulations, driving a motor vehicle without a driver's license, driving a motor vehicle without liability insurance and multiple intentional violations of the Weapons Act.

He will now be sent to prison for six months. Two years of his prison sentence are to be served conditionally with a probation period of three years. He must also pay the costs of the proceedings and legal fees, which amount to CHF 13,980.20.