Prison Sentences for Fake Police Officers in Vienna
A 47-year-old received four years in prison for attempted commercial theft and criminal association. His 52-year-old accomplice got three and a half years. A 41-year-old, who drove the two to the crime scenes, was sentenced to 18 months and asked for time to consider. The sentences of the two fake police officers are final.
Trial against fake police officers: Main defendants fully confessed
The main defendants - both German citizens with Romanian roots - have twelve and seven prior convictions for property crimes in Germany, respectively. After one of them was recently released from prison, they moved their criminal activities to Austria in the fall of 2024. Between mid-October and mid-November, they knocked on the doors of elderly individuals, pretending to be police officers. They sometimes also presented fake IDs. Under the pretense that a Romanian burglar gang had already committed burglaries in the residential building and that they needed to check each apartment, the career criminals gained access to the premises. In two cases covered by the final judgment, they ransacked the premises but found no valuables. In two other cases, they were not allowed into the apartments. The main perpetrators, represented by defense attorneys Rudolf Mayer and Peter Philipp, confessed before a jury panel. The 41-year-old, represented by defense attorney Michael Dohr, stated that he was only the driver.
The presiding judge described the acts in the judgment as "very despicable deeds" and attested to the criminals' "contemptible mindset." They had deliberately chosen elderly individuals, a particularly vulnerable group, as victims and "cunningly exploited their trust in the rule of law and the police." The judge also referred to the testimony of a victim who stated that he "feared for his life" when the two strangers were in his apartment and he realized he had been deceived. "The victims are traumatized for the rest of their lives," the judge railed. Only a sanction close to the maximum penalty could be applied. The jury panel had a sentencing range of up to five years at their disposal.
(APA/Red)
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