Attendant gets two years for stealing cash

The head attendant of a bath house was sentenced to two years in prison and fined 8,000 yuan ($1,258) for stealing 46,000 yuan in cash from a customer's locker last December, a local court announced Monday.

The defendant, surnamed Liu, 26, directed a group of three accomplices who worked with him to commit the crime, according to a news release from Putuo District People's Court.

They included two 17-year-old attendants, surnamed Li and Gong, and a 19-year-old female receptionist, surnamed Jiang, according to the court. Jiang, Li and Gong received sentences of 15 months, 12 months and three months in prison, respectively, the court said.

Following Liu's plan, Li, Gong and Jiang arranged for the victim, a man surnamed Jin, to put his belongings in a locker, while providing him with a key to a different one. Gong then kept the key to the locker that held the belongings.

Jin didn't notice that his key didn't match his locker number and went off to shower none the wiser, the court said. Gong then moved the belongings to a third locker. Their plan was to return Jin's belongings to his original locker while he slept, minus any valuables.

However, Jin decided not to spend the night at the bathhouse and returned an hour later to find his belongings missing. He also realized that the locker wasn't the one where he had put his stuff, the court said.

Jin called the police, who suspected the attendants were up to something, according to the court. Li and Jiang turned themselves in after Gong confessed to the crime.