5 weeks' jail for coffee shop supervisor, 58, who stole S$5,200 from outlet to repay gambling debts

SINGAPORE — Intending to repay gambling debts that he owed, Leonard Tan Kim Meng abused his role as a supervisor at an S11 Food House in Clementi to steal over S$5,200 from the coffee shop's money bags during four different shifts. 

His actions were uncovered by the coffee shop chain's director Tan Thoo Mong, 56, who discovered a shortage in the number of money bags when he went to collect the sales returns.

On Monday (May 8), the 58-year-old Singaporean pleaded guilty to a single charge of misappropriating money from the coffee shop over two consecutive days in 2020, and was sentenced by a district court to five weeks' jail.

A second charge of a similar nature was taken into consideration for sentencing.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Susanna Yim told the court that as the coffee shop supervisor, Tan was tasked with overseeing the operations of the S11 coffee shop at Clementi West Street 2. 

His duties included handling complaints, maintaining the outlet and managing cash-related matters such as the money bags.

At the end of each shift, a cashier would write down the outlet's total sales on the bags and seal the money from the cash register inside them. The bags are tamper-proof and have unique serial numbers. 

A total of two money bags are used for two shifts on each day of operation. Once the bags are sealed, they are kept in a safe at the company's Clementi branch. Court documents did not state where this was located.

Investigations revealed that the coffee shop chain's director discovered a shortage in the number of money bags on Nov 12, 2020 when he opened the safe to collect the sales returns. He made a police report four days later.

Court documents did not state how the director found out Tan was responsible. DPP Yim added that the director went to confront Tan who admitted to taking four money bags — for Nov 9 and Nov 10 — to help pay off his gambling debts.

During those shifts, Tan had instructed the cashiers on duty to not seal the bags so that he could collect them at the end of each shift.

Tan took a total of S$4,065.50 on the two days — S$2,025.60 on Nov 9 and S$2,039.90 the day after. This was in addition to another S$1,200 which he had misappropriated from the same outlet between July and November in 2020. 

It was not stated when Tan was eventually arrested. TODAY has sought more information from the Attorney-General's Chambers.

Tan, who was unrepresented, appeared in court in a wheelchair. 

Seeking a lighter sentence, he told District Judge Jasvender Kaur that he is receiving treatment for health issues including heart disease and claimed that he had to take "30 to 40" tablets a day to help his condition.

For that reason, he pleaded with District Judge Kaur to be lenient with him, stating that he is "very remorseful" for his actions and promising that he will not "make this mistake again".

He proceeded to ask the court to impose a fine instead of the prosecution's proposed six to eight weeks' jail term.

In delivering her sentence, District Judge Kaur told Tan that it was not possible for her to impose only a fine as the law states that a jail term is warranted for the nature of his crime.

She did, however, take into account the full restitution he made and his existing medical conditions, and therefore imposed a "slightly lower" sentence than suggested by the prosecution.

For dishonestly misappropriating the coffee shop's money, Tan could have been jailed up to 15 years and fined.