Quake hero ‘used fame to swindle victims’
Print Edition
A SCHOOLBOY hero of the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake turned to crime, using his fame to gain victims’ trust, a court heard yesterday.
Lei Chunian, 22, is accused of swindling 21 people out of 463,000 yuan (US$75,675), Chengdu Business Daily reported.
He appeared at the High-Tech District Court in Chengdu charged with fraud, forging seals of state bodies and forging company seals.
On May 12, 2008, Lei saved 7 schoolmates lives by getting them to flee when the quake struck in China’s southwestern Sichuan Province.
He was hailed as a national student hero and was a torch bearer at the Beijing Olympics.
But prosecutors said Lei used his fame to win the trust of victims — including his girlfriend — to swindle them.
Between 2012 and 1013, Lei falsely claimed that for a price he could help land jobs as flight attendants, get children into good schools and supply driving licenses, prosecutors said.
At the trial, Lei admitted committing fraud and lavishing the money on himself.
Prosecutors said Lei swindled 100,000 yuan from his girlfriend in 2012, claiming that he could get her a job as a flight attendant as knew the son of the former chairman of an airline.
He is also said to have swindled 175,000 yuan from two victims by saying that he could secure places at top schools through contacts at the Chengdu Education Bureau.
In August 2013, Lei allegedly told a friend he knew traffic police in Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan Province and could help people buy driving licenses.
The friend introduced 16 people to buy driving licenses from Lei and paid 138,000 yuan.
Lei also cheated two people of 50,000 yuan by claiming he could help them get construction projects, the court heard.
After his heroics in 2008, Lei was admitted to one of the best schools in Sichuan and given a 200 yuan monthly allowance, the report said.
However, Lei didn’t do well at school and missed classes.
A girlfriend told the court that Lei took her on expensive holidays and insisted on five-star hotels and luxury cars.
But Lei said he was upgraded as people thought him a hero.
Lei was held in June in Shenzhen in China’s southern Guangdong Province.
Prosecutors called for a sentence of at least 10 years. A verdict will be returned later.
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