SINGAPORE — Fleeing to another country after stealing more than S$10,800 from a karaoke company that dismissed him, Teh Yun Cai then cheated a customer over the phone by claiming that he had a promotional karaoke package to sell. 

The 31-year-old pleaded guilty on Thursday (Aug 10) to six charges, including criminal breach of trust by employees, cheating, house-breaking and theft. 

Five other charges will be taken into consideration for sentencing, which is scheduled for Sept 28.

WHAT HAPPENED 

In April last year, Teh was working as an assistant manager at Have Fun Family Karaoke located at 313 Orchard Road, the address of 313@Somerset mall. 

He was entrusted with its operations, including depositing cash from daily sales to the outlet’s bank account.

However, on several occasions between June 8 and July 3 last year, he pocketed the cash he was meant to deposit into the outlet’s bank account.

This amounted to S$8,563, court documents stated. 

When the company’s accountant and general manager noticed that there were no cash deposits for some time, Teh used a photo-editing application to create false cash deposit receipts to send as “proof”, claiming that the problem lay with the bank. 

Finding the receipts suspicious, coupled with Teh’s poor work performance, the outlet’s manager told Teh that he was no longer allowed to handle cash. 

However, this did not stop him from stealing another S$1,558 from the cash register on July 11.

He then sent a screenshot of a fake cash deposit receipt to the outlet’s manager, stating that he had deposited the cash to the outlet’s bank account. 

Since Teh was no longer allowed to handle cash, the manager asked the cashier if she had handed the money to Teh, but she said that she had not. 

Closed-circuit television footage later showed that he had returned to the shop alone after the employees had left and taken money from the cash register. 

Teh was fired two days later and was given another three days to return the stolen money before the manager reported the matter to the police. 

In the meantime, the door locks were changed to prevent him from entering the karaoke lounge, court documents stated. 

Undeterred, Teh returned on July 15 to steal even more money.

Realising that his keys no longer worked, he squeezed his body between a gap of the shop’s glass panels. 

When he could not open the cash register with his keys, he used a screwdriver to pry it open.

When that did not work, he decided to take the entire cash register, which contained at least S$700, and left. 

Later that same day, he fled to Thailand. 

On July 29 last year, a customer, Mr Ho Jian Ming, contacted Teh to ask if he could buy a "VIP room beverage package" for a company event that he had booked for the same day. 

He had obtained Teh’s contact number through an acquaintance. 

Seizing the opportunity to obtain more money, Teh offered two packages and Mr Ho chose one that cost S$800. 

Teh said that this was a promotional rate offered to Mr Ho as a personal favour.

He told Mr Ho to make payment to him in advance in order to secure the food and beverages for the event.

Mr Ho complied and transferred the money to Teh, who withdrew it from an automated teller machine in Thailand. 

He was arrested on Aug 11 last year at Changi Airport upon his return to Singapore. 

While out on court bail this year, Teh stole another S$50,000 from a colleague while working as a driver, as well as a S$15,416 gold bracelet and chain from a ValueMax pawnshop near the Havelock Road area. 

Deputy Public Prosecutor Stephanie Koh called Teh "a recalcitrant offender" and said that his repeat offences reveal a consistent pattern of criminal behaviour.

She added that he was sentenced to five years' jail in 2010 and five years' corrective training in 2014, but was "unable to maintain a crime-free life for any significant period". 

His past offences were almost all property-related, including some with an element of violence such as armed robbery. 

DPP Koh thus called for a corrective training report to assess his suitability. 

District Judge Koo Zhi Xuan agreed and ordered Teh to return to court on Sept 28. 

Anyone who is an employee found guilty of criminal breach of trust can be jailed for up to 15 years and fined. 

For cheating, Teh could have been jailed for up to 10 years and fined.