A Footscray husband and wife have pleaded guilty to receiving stolen goods valued at more than $70,000 while running a Nicholson Street gift shop.
Bich Ngoc Tran and Hung Trang, who at the time ran Ngoc Chau Gift Shop, were sentenced in the County Court last month for knowingly dealing with the proceeds of crime from “peripheral offenders”.
Tran, 55, was jailed for two years, while Trang, 54, received a two-year community correction order, including 150 hours of community service.
A sentence hearing on February 12 heard that in July 2014, police were approached by Coles National Security, which suspected businesses in the Footscray area of receiving large quantities of stolen goods.
CCTV footage taken from the rear of the gift shop between July 31, 2014, and November 7, 2014, showed the couple accepting stolen goods – mainly health and beauty products from Coles, Woolworths, Chemist Warehouse, Myer and Priceline – on a daily basis from a large number of shoplifters.
‘Gross dishonesty’
“In exchange for the stolen goods, the peripheral offenders would receive around 10 to 20 per cent of the items’ retail value,” Judge Howard Mason said. “The offending by each of you is serious.
“It amounts to gross dishonesty,” the judge said.
“Other businesses must get the clear message that the law will not tolerate commercial theft for advantage.”
Judge Mason said Ms Tran was the primary operator of the gift shop business.
“But you [Trang] were clearly actively involved in the receipt and storage of the stolen goods.”
A large quantity of the stolen goods, valued at $72,613.98, was stored at Public Self Storage in Braybrook.
The couple were arrested on November 7, 2014.
