Thief with an eye for electronics jailed for seven years
The thief, extradited from Bucharest, admitted to thefts from five stores
A 27-year-old man has been jailed for seven years after admitting involvement in a series of spectacular thefts which saw a gang of four men emptying shelves in five electronics stores in a few minutes.
Romanian national Marius Iorga, who had been extradited from Bucharest, pleaded guilty before Magistrate Dr Marse-Ann Farrugia.
The prosecution had charged him with criminal association and theft from several stores in July 2023. The targeted stores were the FACT outlet and Tablets and More store, both in Qormi, which were broken into on the night of 11 July 2023, followed on July 14 by the Telecom store in San Ġwann and on July 24 by the Exotique outlet at Bay Street, St Julian’s and Phone Refix in Birkirkara a day later.
Some of the thefts were recorded on CCTV.
The value of the stolen items exceeded €2,329.37.
Iorga also admitted to charges of causing extensive damage to property, with the alleged damage exceeding €2,500 in each case.
A plea bargain was filed in which the Attorney General's Office and the accused agreed that, in the event of a guilty plea, the sentence would be seven years imprisonment.
In delivering its judgment, the court observed that the offences had been committed together with three other individuals. It therefore ordered the accused to pay one quarter of the costs related to the appointment of experts.
Iorga was sentenced to seven years in prison and ordered to pay €3,294.13, representing one quarter of court costs incurred so far.
The court ordered the confiscation of €200,000, deemed to be the proceeds derived from the offences of which he was found guilty.
A second Romanian man was also extradited in connection with the crimes and is awaiting trial.