JB pawn shop owner alleges ex-employee stole RM100,000 worth of items, cash

JOHOR BARU: A pawnshop owner claims that a former employee stole more than RM100,000 in jewellery and cash.

The owner of the shop located in Gelang Patah, who only wanted to be known as May, said she hired the then 18-year-old girl in July 2022 to man the front counter.

The 58-year-old said she shrugged off constant “mistakes” the employee made when tallying money received at the end of each business day.

“Since the amounts were not big, I thought she had genuinely made mistakes in her calculations.

“I only realised the severity of the matter when another staff member caught her trying to steal some gold jewellery from the display counter – twice.

“The suspect submitted a request to resign in November but when I discovered that she had stolen money in early June, I fired her immediately,” said May.

She also claimed that at least 500g of gold went missing from her shop’s safe.

The shop owner said she only realised this when another customer tried to pawn a bracelet she recognised and thought was in her safe.

May lodged a police report on June 10 but claimed she was only asked to record her statement two months later.

When contacted, Iskandar Puteri OCPD Asst Comm Rahmat Ariffin denied that no action had been taken.

He said investigations were carried out under Section 380 of the Penal Code for theft.

“After the incident was reported, the woman (then 19 years old) was arrested on June 10 and remanded until June 14.

“The case was referred to the Deputy Public Prosecutor’s office for further action on July 13 where we received instructions to release the suspect due to the lack of evidence,” he said.