Düsseldorf (dpa / lnw) – In the process of more than 300 stolen wedding dresses and luxury cosmetics worth almost half a million euros, four defendants have been convicted. The 28-year-old main perpetrator from Bottrop received a sentence of four years and eight months in prison from the Düsseldorf district court on Wednesday – the court also ordered his cocaine addiction to be placed in a rehab clinic.
His wife of the same age was sentenced to two years and four months in prison. The main offender’s brother received two years’ probation. The fourth accused, a 53-year-old with multiple convictions, has to go to prison for one year for being an accessory. The court considered the confessions of the defendants to mitigate the sentence.
The 28-year-old entered the Düsseldorf warehouse of a global luxury goods group more than 30 times and stole crates of luxury cosmetics worth almost half a million euros. The court found that his older brother was there five times.
Some of the loot was bunkered in a container rented under a false name in the port of Düsseldorf. The police also found more than 300 wedding dresses there, which had been stolen in June 2020 from a Düsseldorf bridal shop in the city center.
“I only kept the clothes under pressure from my drug dealer,” explained the 28-year-old. His dealer waived his debts of 2,500 euros for this. He couldn’t refute that.
The main perpetrator’s wife had put the cosmetics up for sale online. “Only under pressure from my husband,” she had protested. Although the verdict is not yet final, most of the defense attorneys have signaled that they do not want to appeal.
