A GANG of shoplifters who stole over £1,100 worth of goods from a Rugby supermarket have been sentenced.
On October 28, Csaba Nemeth, Krisztina Vajda and Dzsenifer Lakatos went into Asda in Chapel Street, filled a trolley with £525 worth of goods, and walked out without paying.
When challenged by security staff, they claimed to be going to get a purse, before loading a black Jaguar car up with the stolen items and driving off.
At around 4:30pm on November 7, the three – along with Krisztian Tokoli and driver Lorenzo Oravec – returned to the supermarket.
Tokoli and Lakatos entered the store and loaded another trolley with nearly £600 worth of goods.
They went to the self-scan area, scanned one of the items from the trolley, and tried to make payment. The card was rejected.
They tried to leave the shop without paying – not realising that they had already been spotted.
Earlier, a CCTV operator from Rugby First had spotted their black Jaguar, which had been flagged heading towards the supermarket.
They alerted the supermarket security ahead of the thieves’ arrival, and the duo were monitored by shop security while Rugby Town Rangers waited nearby.
When Tokoli and Lakatos tried to leave the store, they found the Town Rangers and the shop security waiting for them.
Tokoli ran over to the car to warn their accomplices, who then drove off before Tokoli and Lakatos were detained by the Rangers and the security staff until police officers arrived to make an arrest.
A short time later, the car was stopped by other officers, and Nemeth, Oravec, and Vajda were also arrested.
In the boot, over £1,000 worth of products from the same supermarket chain were discovered. In total, over £2,140 worth of goods were stolen by the five.
At Coventry Magistrates Court, Krisztian Tokoli, 18, from Derby, was sentenced to eight weeks imprisonment for theft from a shop, along with a victims’ surcharge of £154.
Csaba Nemeth, 50, and Krisztina Vajda, 45, both from Coalville, were respectively given suspended prison sentences of 12 weeks and six weeks for two counts of theft from a shop, and were each fined £200.
Lorenzo Oravec, 23, from Derby, was given a suspended prison sentence of four weeks for aiding and abetting theft from a shop, was given six points on his driving license for driving without insurance, and was fined £200.
Dzsenifer Lakatos, 20, from Coalville, was fined £299 for two counts of theft from a shop, given a community order with a 15 day rehabilitation activity requirement, and sentenced to 100 hours of unpaid work.
Insp Tara Johnson of Rugby Local Policing paid tribute to the vigilance of the CCTV operators and Town Rangers.
She added: “This was a prime example of why there’s no good future in shoplifting – our Infamous Five were clocked before they even made it to the store and had no chance of getting away unchallenged.
“It’s easy for us to track your vehicle once we know which one it is, and repeat offenders are easy to spot.”
