Gold dealer who admitted melting down $218,000 worth of stolen precious metals is jailed
- Chey Tenenboim admitted melting down gold and jewellery worth $218,000
- Tenenboim pleaded guilty to a charge of receiving stolen goods on 42 occasions
- Tenenboim was sentenced to a year in prison for his part in the scheme
A Melbourne gold dealer jailed for melting down gold and jewellery says he feels great shame at his crimes being exposed.
Chey Tenenboim should have felt that shame when he was destroying the precious stolen items, the Victorian judge who jailed him on Wednesday says.
The father-of-four was raised in the jewellery business, working alongside his father in the family jewellery business while training himself as a gold and diamond valuer.
A Melbourne gold dealer jailed for melting down gold and jewellery says he feels great shame at his crimes being exposed (file picture)
He went to work for brothers Alejandro and Julio Mendieta Blanco in their Melbourne Gold Buyers business in 2013. Police raided the business in October 2017, alleging they'd bought a combined $218,848 worth of stolen gold and jewellery.
Tenenboim pleaded guilty to one charge of receiving stolen goods on 42 occasions.
The precious items were bought for a lower price in exchange for sellers usually not having to provide ID, and were melted down on site.
That made detection of the crime extremely difficult, given items couldn't be identified.
'I'm told you experience great shame at the exposure of your criminality and indeed you should feel this way - it is extremely shameful behaviour,' Judge Scott Johns said, adding there was no evidence Tenenboim felt any shame at the time.
He said had Tenenboim given it a second's thought he would have known the stolen items would have priceless sentimental value to their true owners.
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Tenenboim was sentenced to 12 months' prison on Wednesday for his part in the scheme. He'll have to complete 200 hours of community work when he's released.
Judge Johns acknowledged Tenenboim would have a tough time in prison, not being able to help out with his four children.
Three have osteogenesis imperfecta - a genetic condition that results in brittle bones - and another has autism which involves behavioural issues which have worsened in his absence.
He will be behind bars for his son's 13th birthday and bar mitzvah, significant moments for his Orthodox Jewish family.
Tenenboim broke down during the sentencing when his father's 2006 death was raised.
He and his father had been held up at gunpoint in the family jewellery business in the early 2000s and for a period afterwards his father had received death threats.
His body was found floating in Sydney Harbour in 2006. A coroner ruled his death a suicide but Tenenboim, who was later pursued by creditors demanding money on behalf of his father, believes he was killed.
Tenenboim will be freed in 11 months.
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