An Indonesian maid who stole branded goods worth more than $50,000 from her employer was sentenced to 12 months’ jail yesterday (Aug 7). Siti Nur Sopiyati, 32, confessed to her crime after she was arrested for swiping a $35,000 Chopard ladies’ watch, a $7,500 Celine snakeskin handbag, and a $10,000 Hermes crocodile skin wallet from her 32-year-old businesswoman employer, Lisa Lee.
Apart from these big ticket items, she also nabbed a t-shirt worth $150 and a diamond gold ring worth $1,800 from Lee’s Nassim Hill apartment in January last year, reported The Straits Times. She had been working for Lee since 2013.
Apparently, Siti was cleaning the master bedroom when she looted the five items — worth a total of $54,450 — from the cupboard. She stashed them in her room and asked another Indonesian woman to help send them back to her home country.
Lee’s husband made a police report when the valuables first went missing — he suspected Siti or the other Indonesian maid in the household to be the thief — but no incriminating evidence was uncovered on either of them. Not wanting to keep pursuing the case, the couple sent both maids back to their agent, who eventually sent them back to Indonesia.
But Siti returned to Singapore last May to work for another employer, foolishly bringing along the stolen goods to use them.
Thinking she had gotten away scot free, Siti flaunted the stuff on Instagram 11 months after the incident, but Lee’s sister discovered the photos and Lee subsequently reported the new information to the police.
All five items have since been recovered.
Siti’s sentence was backdated to July 25. For her offence of theft as a servant, she could have been jailed for a maximum of seven years and fined.
