In Pavlodar, a pawnshop employee took gold jewelry from clients and money from the cash register to play in an online casino. The court sentenced her to 3 years and 4 months of restricted freedom, reports infohub.kz.
According to case materials, the senior commodity expert-appraiser-cashier of one of Pavlodar's pawnshops, who had material responsibility, began taking clients' property in March 2026.
The resourceful woman started pulling jewelry from the safe and pawning it at other pawnshops, using the proceeds for gambling. In this way, she stole 26 items, including rings, earrings, chains, necklaces, and pendants.
"Thus, she took gold items totaling 5,795,390 tenge. With the money obtained, she began playing in an online casino, hoping to win more money, and if she won, to buy back the items and put them back. However, game after game, she started losing and losing money," the woman's testimony is quoted in the verdict of the inter-district court for criminal cases in Pavlodar.
She never managed to win it all back, so in May she took a desperate step, taking more than 10 million directly from the cash register. The disappearance did not go unnoticed.
A criminal case was opened for embezzlement, and in court the Pavlodar woman fully admitted her guilt.
By the way, the sentence imposed 3 years and 4 months of restricted freedom, taking into account the amnesty law. She was also ordered to compensate damages totaling nearly 15 million tenge.