The South Denpasar Police have announced the arrest of a sex worker, who is suspected of burglarizing a villa where an American national stayed.
AI, 40, was arrested over the weekend. The victim, RLB, previously booked AI for sex work at his villa in Sanur and allowed her to familiarize herself with the accommodation. According to the police, AI even studied the password to RLB’s safety box on the day the two met.
At around 8pm on Feb. 10, RLB went out to grab some food. AI entered the unlocked villa and proceeded to steal US$1,200 in cash, credit cards, and jewelry from inside RLB’s safety box in his closet.
RLB immediately reported the crime to the police after he returned and realized his belongings had gone.
“After investigation, we found that there were transactions under the victim’s credit cards in several places,” said South Denpasar Police Chief Comr. I Gede Sudyatmaja.
The police managed to track down AI and finally arrested her at a hotel in Kuta at around midnight last Sunday.
Local outlets have reported that AI is a trans woman and a recidivist for theft, who has already burglarized victims at least six times before and served time behind bars.
“She targeted foreigners all this time. [She] committed [similar crimes] in South Denpasar once and there are cases also in North Kuta,” Gede revealed.
Under Indonesia’s Criminal Code (KUHP), AI may face up to nine years in prison for theft.
According to research published in 2015, 67 percent of Indonesian trans women (locally known as waria or transpuan) worked in street prostitution, while nearly one-third of the population (27 percent) busk to earn a living.
In Indonesia, trans women who run small-scale businesses (mostly beauty and fashion enterprises), work in the entertainment industry, and have office jobs are considered outliers.
