The central Da Nang City People’s Court on Monday gave a life sentence to a “super thief” who, with the aid of an accomplice, has carried out 36 thefts in four years to steal US$495,000, targeting many wealthy officials and businessmen.

The thief was Dang Ngoc Tan, 31, and his accomplice was Nguyen Huu Phuoc, 30, who was sentenced to 14 years in jail. Both of them were local residents. The two men were arrested last year after committing a series of thefts in the city in the 2008-2011 period. Also being sentenced yesterday was Tan’s wife, Nguyen Bach Duong, who received 7 years in prison for “consuming property acquired through the commission of crime by other persons”. According to the indictment of the prosecutor’s office, Tan and Phuoc had stolen a total amount of VND10.3 billion, or over $495,000, from 36 thefts in the city. One of their notable thefts was the one that occurred on March 10, 2010, when Phuoc and Tan broke into the house of Hoang Duong Viet Anh, in Hai Chau District, and took away a lot of gold items and a number of cash, totaling over VND617 million ($29,700). The house’s owner is the son of the Minister of Culture, Sports, and Tourism Hoang Tuan Anh, who once lived in the house when he was chairman of Da Nang City People’s Committee. In another prominent case, Tan and Phuoc stole 5 taels of gold and a number of gold items weighing over two taels of gold and VND70 million in cash from the house at 20 Le Dinh Ly Street in Thanh Khe District. The house’s owner is Ngo Tan Cu, deputy director of Da Nang City Power Company. Tan then used VND541 million (US$26,000) stolen from the house at 182 Ly Tu Trong Street and over VND1 billion taken away from another house on 16 Dao Duy Anh Street to buy a Toyota Venza car in the name of Nguyen Hong Thinh, his father-in-law.

Tan also allegedly used part of the money gained from the thefts to buy real estate for VND2.5 billion ($120,000) in the name of Dang Van Anh, Tan’s father. The court judged that the land and car would be confiscated.

Meanwhile, Tan told the court that he had carried out only 29 thefts, not 36 as shown in the indictment, and that he had spent all the stolen money on his own pleasure activities, not on buying a car or properties. He added that he had given Phuoc a total amount of about VND100 million.

Tan objected to the charge on his wife, arguing that Duong could not be so indicted since she did not know that the money he gave her was illegal.

However, the jury rejected Tan’s arguments.