Police Raid John Lewis Worker's Home And Find Nearly $41K Worth Of Tech

A John Lewis stockroom worker has been jailed after he stole a tech stuff worth $55K from the retailer that he planned to sell online.

Lai Long, 47, a John Lewis stockroom worker is facing jail time after he stole a whopping $55,000 worth of products from the retailer that he planned on selling it online. 

Long had worked for the John Lewis store located at the Bluewater shopping center branch near Dartford, Kent for 17 years of his life but even after these many years of service, an internal investigation launched in the store related that a large number of products had gone missing from the stockroom.

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Between October 2017 and June 2018, products such as laptops and mobiles from big-name brands including Apple and Samsung mysteriously vanished.

The internal investigation that was carried out involved making a test purchase of Apple Airpods that was listed on an online selling site using a profile connected to Uong. It was later confirmed the AirPods were from the John Lewis stock.

As the investigation released the worker's name, police raided Long's home where they found nearly $41,000 worth of stolen tech, including watches, mobile phones, and wearable tech from Windows, Apple and Samsung, which he intended to sell online.

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The search of Long's property found a shocking $41,000 worth of Apple products, which were all confirmed to be stolen from the store.

During the investigation, officers also found more than $29,000 worth of electrical goods had been sold by Uong on the online site.

Further inquiries were conducted by the police and so they were able to contact the customers who stole goods from Long and they were asked to provide the serial numbers for the products to confirm where they came from.

Credit: Kent Police/SWNS

Police found that from the $29,000 of goods sold online, $13,000 worth of products came from John Lewis.

Uong, from Gravesend in Kent, appeared at Woolwich Crown Court on Monday, where he admitted to handling stolen goods.

The man was jailed for two years and eight months and was ordered to pay $208 in costs.

A Proceeds of Crime Application was also launched to recover the money.

Investigating officer Jacqueline Brown of the Bluewater Police Team said:

"After a long and protracted investigation I am pleased with the outcome achieved from the courts, this demonstrates our willingness to get the best possible outcome for the victims and hold offenders to account for their actions."

Brown also added:

"His employer placed a lot of trust in him, and not only did he let his employer down but he also lost his job and will now serve time behind bars for handling the stolen items."

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