A 38-year-old nurse at Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital, Yong Pei Yoong, pleaded guilty to three counts of cheating and one count of theft in dwelling, and she was sentenced to 6 months imprisonment on Thursday (21 September).
She had stolen her colleagues’ debit cards from inside a changing room for staff members, and used the cards to spend on things such as bird’s nest and dining at a hotpot restaurant, according to The Straits Times.
The Debit Card Theft
The story begins on March 24 when a medical sales representative from Johnson & Johnson visited Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital.
She entered a female changing room to prepare for her duties in the operating theatre, a place generally reserved for hospital staff.
As the visiting representative was not assigned a locker in the changing room, she left her bag containing her wallet in an open cupboard.
It was at this moment that Yong Pei Yoong spotted the unattended bag and seized the opportunity and discreetly took a debit card from the wallet.
A Chain of Deceit
Later that evening, Yong used the stolen card to make a purchase, buying three bottles of bird’s nest with ginseng, totaling $138.
Two days later, she repeated her illicit act, this time buying various food items worth $101.57 at a hotpot restaurant. To avoid detection, she eventually discarded the debit card in a rubbish bin.
The saga didn’t end there. On April 5, Yong struck again, this time taking a debit card belonging to another nurse from the same changing room.
Once more, she used it to purchase bird’s nest with ginseng, this time worth $158.40. As before, she disposed of the stolen card after her transaction.
Caught in the Act
Both victims eventually discovered that their debit cards were missing and that unauthorized transactions had been made. Understandably alarmed, they promptly reported the thefts to the police, setting the wheels of justice in motion.