A former police captain from Lille, who robbed the homes of dead people to which he had access by virtue of his duties, was sentenced this Wednesday, May 4, 2022 in Lille to a four-year suspended prison sentence.
He was permanently banned from exercising the function of policeman and will also have to reimburse certain heirs robbed, including €87,850 to a woman following the theft of gold napoleons.
“I screwed it all up”
The defendant, 48, was arrested in 2011 after the complaint of a man who had found on a merchant website the computer stolen from his father shortly after his death, put up for sale by the policeman.
He was judged for “aggravated theft”, “breaking of seals” and “laundering”. The court underlined on Wednesday the “gravity” facts but also their ” seniority “.
During the hearing in March, the prosecutor Mélanie Mazingarbe had requested three years of imprisonment, two of which were suspended, stressing that this type of facts “very rare”, “weakens any trust we can have in the police”.
“I had financial difficulties” linked to a separation, “I wanted to maintain a certain lifestyle” et “I screwed it all up”, he justified himself in court. The facts were committed «A civilian»during the lunch break.
Mystery on 251 gold coins
Before his dismissal in 2014, he had been deputy head of the “Quarter” service, a service responsible in particular for deaths, which gave him access to the keys to the victims’ homes.
Laptops, Hermès scarves, cameras, telephones: the police officer, who recognized 10 to 15 thefts, was prosecuted for having used the homes of at least five deceased who were the subject of investigations in search of the causes of death between 2009 and 2011. He had sold his loot on a merchant site, for a profit estimated at €5,000.
He was also accused of stealing 251 gold coins from court seals, which he denies, saying the coins sold in the same period via his father came from a ” legacy “.
By virtue of his duties, he had been responsible for recounting these coins after they had been seized from the home of a recently deceased person. But according to experts, his count of 734 pieces did not correspond to the initial weight of the seizure: 1.6 kg had disappeared, or 251 pieces.
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