A former elementary school teacher who secretly sold teaching equipment worth tens of millions of won, including drones and cameras, on secondhand markets has been sentenced to a fine. The court said it took into consideration that the stolen items were promptly returned.
According to legal sources on Tuesday, Presiding Judge Lee Dong-ho of the 3rd Criminal Division at Incheon District Court sentenced the former teacher, identified only as A, 50, to a fine of 2.5 million won on charges of occupational embezzlement.
A was indicted for embezzling 21.12 million won worth of teaching equipment owned by an elementary school in Ganghwa-gun, Incheon, where A had worked, by selling it on secondhand trading sites between September 2023 and February of last year. The equipment A sold included high-value items such as drones, cameras and laptops, according to investigators.
A's crime was discovered when the school conducted an internal inspection and found that some equipment was missing, sources said. The school reported the matter to the Incheon Metropolitan Office of Education and filed a complaint against A with police. Prosecutors initially sought a summary indictment with a 5 million won fine for occupational embezzlement, but A objected and requested a formal trial.
"A has acknowledged the wrongdoing, expressed remorse and made a sincere pledge not to reoffend," Judge Lee said in his ruling. "The damage has been recovered as the stolen items or replacements were promptly returned."
The judge added that he considered mitigating factors including that A appeared to have served relatively faithfully as an education official with no prior criminal record before this case.
The Incheon Metropolitan Office of Education held a disciplinary committee meeting in June and decided to dismiss A, the most severe form of disciplinary action. A has reportedly filed an appeal with the Teachers' Appeals Commission challenging the disciplinary decision.
