Courts / Wicklow / Report
Edible insects businessman jailed over professional shoplifting scheme
Summary
Anthonie Van Wilderoden, a 44‑year‑old Dutch national living in Wicklow, was sentenced to two years' imprisonment for a professional shop‑lifting scheme. He operated a business called Eddiebug that sold edible insects and also directed a chocolate‑making company. Van Wilderoden admitted to placing online adverts on the Donedeal website for household goods, then stealing the items from stores such as Arnotts, Curries and Harvey Norman. He used a modified baby's pram to conceal items including a Nespresso machine, crockery sets, a vacuum cleaner and an electric blanket. He was also convicted of stealing a €900 Jimmy Choo handbag from Brown Thomas, claiming it was a Mother's Day present. The judge suspended the last six months of the sentence because he is a foreign national. He had previously been arrested in 2015 and again after the handbag theft, and had fled to Belgium before his sentence date, where he was later apprehended under a European Arrest Warrant. Van Wilderoden pleaded guilty.
Who, what, where, when and why
What: Report matter: Edible insects businessman jailed over professional shoplifting scheme. Charges or matters: ten sample counts of theft from the four stores between December 2014 and March 2015. Procedural stage: sentence
When:
- December 2014 Incident
- March 2015 Incident
- November 2016 Incident
- 2017-01-13 Publication
Why: He said he began the shoplifting enterprise because had built up heavy debt and his estranged wife had gone to America with his children leaving him with no way to support himself. CNI source report
Case subjects
Defendant
Charges: ten sample counts of theft from the four stores between December 2014 and March 2015 (Admitted)
Plea: Guilty
Outcome: Judge Cormac Quinn imposed a sentence of two years. He said he saved the money from this to set up his first business but that he was "a person who is totally incapable of handling money." Counsel said Van Wilderoden had bought a plane ticket back to the Netherlands and if he was given a suspended sentence he was willing to promise not to return to Ireland.
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