Police in Minsk, Belarus, have arrested a man accused of stealing his fiancée’s money to gamble at a casino, before running away to hide in a farmer’s field.
The Belarusian media outlet Smart Press reported that officials from the Ministry of Internal Affairs have charged the 38-year-old Minsk resident with theft.
The ministry said the couple had been living together for about a year and had begun planning a wedding.
However, the unnamed woman began to grow suspicious of her husband-to-be when she noticed that her cash savings in domestic and foreign currency were disappearing from the house.
First, she discovered that $1,000 in US dollars and 400 Belarusian rubles (worth almost $150) were missing.
Later, she found that more than 7,500 Belarusian rubles (over $2,700) was missing from her bank account.
Stealing Fiancée’s Money: Woman Trusted Partner ‘Completely’
The woman later told police that she had trusted her boyfriend “completely.” She reportedly shared all of her sensitive login and password details with him, including her online banking information.
When the woman confronted him to ask if he was involved in the disappearance of the money, her fiancé reportedly “denied everything.”
But shortly after this heated conversation, the man fled the house and “went into hiding,” police confirmed.
After a brief manhunt, police said they found the man “hidden in a field.” During questioning, police said the man said he “was preparing to leave the country.”
He also told police he had lost all of his future wife’s savings at a casino. He also confessed that he was “ashamed of what had happened.”
The ministry has launched a criminal case against the man.
There has been an uptick in gambling-related crimes in Belarus in recent months. In the city of Mogilev, prosecutors are set to try a businessman who allegedly embezzled money from a private business loan to gamble online.
Sight of Cash ‘Clouded’ Judgement
Earlier, the same media outlet reported that a 27-year-old man stole $44,000 from his girlfriend before losing the entire sum at a casino.
The woman told her boyfriend she planned to buy an apartment with cash. She showed him the bundle of banknotes, which she had hidden in a drawer full of clothing.
But the man later told police that the sight of the cash had “clouded” his reasoning.
When the woman later left the house, the man stole the banknotes, exchanged them for Belarusian rubles, and gambled the stolen funds away at a casino.
Upon hearing what had happened, the victim’s 60-year-old mother filed a report with the police.
