A royal employee who stole the Prince’s Samsung phone and sold 110 items

An employee who stole royal items from Buckingham Palace in England and sold them on eBay and other online sites was sentenced to imprisonment.

The Washington Post (WP) and the BBC reported on the 4th (local time) that Adamo Canto, 37, who worked in the kitchen at Buckingham Palace, was sentenced to August in prison. According to London police and royal investigations, he was accused of stealing 110 items from November 2019 to August last year. He admitted to three theft charges in trial.

According to WP, many of the items he stole were found in Adamo Canto’s accommodation. This includes a photo album taken by U.S. President Donald Trump during his visit to England in 2019, or a photo signed by Prince William and Prince Harry. In addition, silk pajamas and brooches were removed from the galleries inside the palace and staff lockers.

The BBC reported that Can Tho sold some of its merchandise at a price far below its actual value. He sold about 30 items on eBay, etc., and the transaction amount was known to be 7700 pounds (about 11.4 million won). President Trump’s photo album sold for $2036 ​​(about 220,000 won). Some of the items sold have not yet been recovered. According to the British Daily Telegraph, some of the objects were also found at his parents’ home.

He even touched the customized cell phone of Prince Andrew, 61, the second son of Queen Elizabeth II. It is reported that the mobile phone of the’Galaxy Z-flip’ model made by Samsung sold for 600 pounds (about 890,000 won).

Having worked in the royal family since 2015, he was in charge of cleaning up with the recent Corona 19 epidemic. It was possible to enter the room of the royal family, which had previously been banned, and easily stole things. Deputy Commander Johnston Burt of the British Royal Navy said, “I wanted to hang a medal at Queen Elizabeth’s birthday, but I found out that it was missing.”

He confessed that he committed a crime in the face of financial difficulties at trial. The lawyer said, “He has been struggling for a long time to pay off his debts, and then he has touched things,” he said. “He regrets his actions very deeply.” He also added, “I didn’t know exactly how valuable the stolen goods were.”

The judge explained, “The crime is so serious that we must immediately detain it,” and “I have admitted the crime and have no other criminal record, so the sentence was reduced from 18 months to 8 months.”

Buckingham Palace in England admitted to the sentence, but said it would not comment on the case any more.

Reporter Kim Sun-mi [email protected]