Two Filipino buddies who pleaded guilty to using a stolen credit card in March last year to buy three laptop computers and a guitar were sent to jail for 2 years and 22 months, respectively, by a District Court judge on Jul 12.
Judge Don So meted out the sentences after Hong Kong residents Manuel Roldan and Edward Reyes admitted the charges.
Roldan, a 49-year-old waiter who was charged with one count of theft and four counts of obtaining property by deception, drew a 24-month jail term.
Reyes, a 50-year-old musician and friend of Roldan who joined the shopping spree, was sentenced to 22 months for three counts of obtaining property by deception.
The case was transferred to the District Court in Wanchai from Eastern Court in Sai Wan Ho because of the seriousness of the offenses, according to Magistrate Bina Chainrai.The prosecution report said Roldan stole a Bank of China MasterCard credit card owned by a certain Lam Chi-hau on Mar 1 last year. Using the card, he immediately went to a shop in 298 Computer Zone in Wanchai and bought a laptop computer for $1,956. He was charged with obtaining property by deception for this.
Roldan was later joined by Reyes, and together they used the card to buy a second laptop computer worth $3,750 from Cyber System Computer shop, and a third laptop for $3,330 at Wise Computer Technology Co, both in the Wanchai Computer Centre,
Afterwards, they went to a Tom Lee Music shop at City Centre on Gloucester Road, Wanchai and bought a bass guitar and an effect machine for guitar for a total of $9,450.
They were arrested on an unspecified date after the card issuer alerted the cardholder about the series of purchases.
