Policeman jailed 3 months for pocketing S$207 from lost-and-found wallets

SINGAPORE — When Good Samaritans handed in lost wallets that they had found to the police, one police officer seized the chance to take some of the cash in them.

Isaac Lim Jun Cheng got away with pocketing S$207 over five months before a victim got her wallet back and realised that money was missing from it.

On Wednesday (March 25), the 24-year-old ground response force officer was sentenced to three months’ jail. He pleaded guilty to one count of criminal breach of trust as a servant.

In response to TODAY’s queries, a police spokesperson said that Lim has been interdicted — that is, suspended without pay — since Jan 25 last year. The Singapore Police Force (SPF) has also begun disciplinary proceedings against him.

The spokesperson added: “The SPF takes the security of found property placed in police custody very seriously. There are measures in place to ensure safe and proper handling of all found property. 

“This was an isolated case and does not represent the professional and disciplined conduct of the rest of our SPF officers.”

The court heard that Lim, who was attached to the Pasir Ris Neighbourhood Police Centre, struck from June to November 2018. His offences only came to light on Jan 1 last year when the victim filed a police report about her missing cash.

On Nov 18, 2018, she had reported the loss of her wallet, which also contained her National Registration Identity Card (NRIC), at Tampines Neighbourhood Police Centre.

A passerby found the wallet in a hawker centre where she had been, and passed it to a drinks stall owner. He recognised the victim from her NRIC as a regular customer of his and decided to return it to her when he saw her again.

After some time, when she did not return to his stall, he asked his son to help him return the wallet to her home.

When the younger man went over and found no one home, he took the wallet to Pasir Ris Neighbourhood Police Centre. Lim, who was on duty that day, took it and told him he could leave.

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Lim then took S$180 from the wallet and did not make a report to document his receipt of the wallet.

When Lim called the victim and she went to the police station to collect her wallet, she discovered cash was missing and asked Lim about this. He lied, saying that the wallet had been found by the roadside.

She found out the truth after going to the drinks stall at the hawker centre and speaking to the owner, who told her he had given it to the police and that there had been banknotes in it.

She then made a police report.

Investigations revealed that Lim took more cash from wallets handed over to him at the police station on two other occasions. He filed reports to document receiving them, but deliberately did not mention any cash in the wallets when describing their contents.

For his offence, he could have been jailed up to 15 years and fined.