Court Sentences Man to 15 Million Won Fine for Stealing and Driving Tesla While Drunk

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] A man who stole and drove a foreign electric car while intoxicated was sentenced to a fine by the court.

According to the legal community on the 29th, Judge Park Junbeom of the Criminal Division 5 at Daejeon District Court sentenced a man in his 30s, Mr. A, who was charged with theft, trespassing, and violation of the Road Traffic Act (drunk driving), to a fine of 15 million won on the 18th.

Mr. A (30) was prosecuted for stealing a Tesla Model S electric car worth approximately 93 million won from a corporate research institute parking lot in Daejeon in the early morning of April 9 last year, and driving it about 6.6 km to near his home. It was investigated that Mr. A’s blood alcohol concentration was 0.051% at the time of driving.

Regarding this, Mr. A claimed, "I entered the underground parking lot, believing it was generally accessible to avoid the cold," and "I thought it was a friend or acquaintance’s car, so I had no intent to steal."

However, the court did not accept these claims. The court stated, "It is hard to believe that the defendant thought that arbitrary access by outsiders was allowed until dawn in a building with a distinctive exterior," and "Considering that the defendant did not know the make of a friend or acquaintance’s car but chose to drive the latest expensive model among several parked passenger cars, it is difficult to trust the defendant’s claims."

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