Crime Jul. 08, 2009 - 12:46PM JST ( 8 )

SAITAMA —

A 43-year-old man and his two sons arrested for shoplifting in February had additional accusations of theft referred to the Saitama District Public Prosecutors Office on Tuesday, police said.

The unemployed man and his two sons, 17 and 20, were arrested for theft in late February, accused of stealing three rice cookers worth about 70,000 yen in total from a home center in Konosu City. The man and his elder son have already been charged in this case, and the younger son was referred to a family court.

Police revealed on Tuesday that the trio are suspected of being involved in 25 other cases of shoplifting, stealing electrical goods including a plasma TV, worth around 850,000 yen in total, since July last year.

The father has admitted to the February theft and said he waited in the car while his younger son put the rice cookers in a shopping cart and brought them out of the store, while the older son watched out for any security staff. He said they stole and pawned the goods to make ends meet, and that they began shoplifting as a family as far back as two years ago.

News reports