Chapter 375 - 375 342 Fixed Evidence

Words : 1730 Updated : Oct 11th, 2025

375: Chapter 342 Fixed Evidence 375: Chapter 342 Fixed Evidence Tang Jia found a breakthrough clue, which somewhat excited her colleagues in the same team. Everyone was following Jiang Yuan’s lead, and they were indeed very serious and attentive in their work, but clues are a bit like treasure hunting, it’s only at the moment you find the treasure that all your work is vindicated, and the experience of the treasure hunter is deemed successful, and the process is considered effortful, otherwise, it’s all in vain. Everyone hopes their hard work is recognized, especially those who have indeed put in a great deal of effort. Even Wang Zhong began reviewing the photos he had taken with his camera, while more officers shifted their interest to the delivery man. The delivery driver, in his fifties, was slightly overage for a big city, but a bit young for a village. If he had a vehicle, he often could take on the deliveries for several villages. This time, a group of young people, in order to catch him, had taken on the business of many villages themselves. Jiang Yuan returned to the police station with Song Jinyou and others to wait. The suspect hadn’t exposed himself or shown any inclination to flee, so the capture wouldn’t be too difficult; a few young men should be able to easily pin him down. After all, it was just sheep stealing. Almost immediately, Wang Chuanxing and Shen Yaowei’s group brought back the criminal suspects, and the only surprise was that they brought back three people, not one. “One to tie up the sheep, one to drive, and another to keep watch and cook the meat,” Wang Chuanxing said as he brought the people into the interrogation room and then came out to brief Jiang Yuan. “Did they eat the stolen sheep?” Jiang Yuan wasn’t too surprised, but still a little taken aback. Nowadays, crimes are mostly motivated by emotions, followed by money, and it’s indeed rare to see deliberate crimes committed just for something to eat. Of course, stealing sheep is also to illegally obtain money or benefits, but such a direct consumption mode is indeed quite old-fashioned. Wang Chuanxing nodded and said, “It’s just a standard case of opportunistic theft. They even made a small compartment in the car, welded an area fifty centimeters wide, just to hide sheep and dogs. We also found a large pot, a torch for burning hair, and so on at their home...” “Have they turned professional?” Song Jinyou’s expression became serious. This was a criminal gang operating under his jurisdiction. Wang Chuanxing replied, “I don’t know about other things, but they do love to eat, and what they cook is quite aromatic. When I arrived, they were roasting goose, and it smelled pretty good...” “Did you find any tools?” Jiang Yuan didn’t continue with the topic of goose eating. Wang Chuanxing took out his phone, opened the photos, and showed Jiang Yuan. “The pliers match, and so do the shoes. Then there’s no problem,” Jiang Yuan said with reassurance after glancing at a few photos. As long as they hadn’t caught the wrong person, the rest would be standard procedure. With Meng Chengbiao conducting the interrogation and Wang Chuanxing preparing the PPT, Jiang Yuan wasn’t worried about any more unforeseen events. Sitting comfortably and sipping tea, within a short time, Meng Chengbiao indeed came over to report, “They confessed. These three guys would steal a sheep, or a dog, or a goose whenever they felt like having a feast, thinking it’s no big deal to be petty thieves.” “Multiple thefts, and it’s still no big deal,” Song Jinyou huffed, and added, “If we add up the amounts from 20 thefts, it could reach a substantial sum.” Multiple thefts and burglary are covered by the same law, including theft of public or private property with a considerable amount, or repeat thefts, burglaries, theft with weapons, pickpocketing, all punishable by up to three years’ imprisonment. Less than three years might seem manageable, and after indictment, the actual sentence might be just over a year, less than two years. But the amount determined in the law doesn’t align with common perception. What is considered “a considerable amount” in theft is generally just a few thousand yuan. And when it exceeds 30,000 yuan, it can be deemed a substantial amount. The latter part of the same law specifies that a large amount entails a sentence of three to ten years. As for the “especially large amount,” depending on the region, it usually refers to three hundred or four hundred thousand yuan or more, and an especially large amount merits a fixed-term imprisonment of over ten years or life imprisonment. In other words, if someone breaks into a place and takes a piece of abalone, they’re looking at more than ten years right off the bat. These three sheep thieves were actually quite pitiable, with over 20 sheep, dogs, and geese stolen. If they could all be charged, it might just exceed the threshold of 30,000 yuan, which would fall into the category of ‘a huge amount.’ The starting sentence for this would be three years, and it’s very easy to end up with a four- or five-year sentence. Meng Chengbiao continued to disclose the details of the case, “They often frequented Wen Township. Every time they delivered goods to a village, they would scout out the location in advance. When they got a craving, they would take on a delivery job to this area. After delivering the goods, they would steal some sheep, and then head back home to cook and eat.” “Moreover, they claimed they wouldn’t steal more than necessary. Their exact words were they’d only take what they needed to eat, a sort of ‘honor among thieves’.” “The guy who was responsible for stealing sheep and dogs had previously raised sheep, so he was very skilled at it. His age and physical description, including his height and weight, matched the footprints...” “The lookout was a chef, the driver was the one who gave the ideas, plus, he had a vehicle.” “They were very familiar with surveillance cameras, always choosing different routes to avoid them.” Meng Chengbiao spilled all the intelligence gathered from the interrogation in one breath, then added quietly, “So, this case is considered cracked, right?” “Of course, it’s cracked,” Jiang Yuan said, curiosity piqued. “Normally, one person stealing one sheep at a time makes sense, but why would three people steal together and only take one each time? Wouldn’t it be better to keep a couple more, or make a big heist and buy sheep to eat afterwards...” “They probably weren’t that short on money. It was all just to eat.” Meng Chengbiao organized his thoughts and said, “Simply put, all three of them were henpecked, handing all their earnings to their wives, so they had no money even for treats. That’s why they stole to eat. And they didn’t dare to take the leftovers home, so they would continue to eat it over the next two or three days. So they didn’t really want to steal more...” “No wonder,” Jiang Yuan understood instantly. Yu Wenshu was also henpecked, so it was nothing unusual. Song Jinyou was also tutting with noise, then chuckled and said, “You’ve solved twenty cases in one fell swoop, haha... Actually, considering that, your team really isn’t too big for the amount of evidence from over twenty cases that needs to be secured...” Nowadays, both confessions and physical evidence are needed to file a case, although they are not strictly required, but it is certainly better to have them. According to Song Jinyou’s experience, organizing evidence for 20 cases was definitely a grueling task. It’s like doing 20 sets of homework assignments. It’s not that you don’t know how to do them, but they still require scratching your head and a great deal of time and effort... Jiang Yuan had also entered a contemplative state by this time, nodding and saying, “Indeed, there’s quite a bit of evidence for over twenty cases.” At that moment, Song Jinyou looked at Jiang Yuan with extreme alertness, starting to think of ways to refuse in his mind. “Compile all the photos of the tools you found,” Jiang Yuan’s contemplation was more about from which angle to secure the evidence. Tool marks were his current forte, and now it was time to utilize them as his finishing move. Many thieves tend to stick to the same tools for a long time, which is entirely different from murderers. It might be because theft involves certain technical skills, and thieves seek to work with tools they’re comfortable with. Moreover, the value from a single theft is limited, so it’s almost impossible for a thief to switch gear every time they commit a crime. That wouldn’t be theft anymore; it would be working for the hardware store owner. Soon, Tang Jia brought over the relevant case files and photos. Especially the tools recovered from the arrest scene, which were not few in number. After looking at a few pictures, Jiang Yuan began to assign numbers to the tools in the photos. Tang Jia understood right away and quickly stepped forward to help. Once they finished numbering the tools in the photos, Jiang Yuan started listing them in rows. Song Jinyou was confused by their actions and couldn’t help but ask, “What does it mean to bring all these numbers together?” “It represents the tools involved in a case. Like for this case, case number seven, they used pliers, chain, rope, and there were also tire tracks left behind, we can consider these as tools,” Jiang Yuan explained as he worked, sorting the evidence for twenty cases in a matter of minutes. What remained was simply the task of writing the report. Song Jinyou watched from the side, utterly amazed, feeling like a poor student witnessing a top student breeze through homework. “Director Song, have there been any cases at your station lately? Let us help you out,” Jiang Yuan offered casually. It was a massive effort to come all this way; they couldn’t just head back without doing something.

Chapter 375 - 375 342 Fixed Evidence

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