The Yokohama District Court on Friday sentenced a former policeman to six years in prison for stealing cash and valuables between 1999 and 2000, abusing his position as a theft investigator.
Takashi Niita, 47, who was a senior officer in charge of theft investigations at Chigasaki Police Station of the Kanagawa Prefectural Police force, was charged with theft and trespassing on 43 occasions.
Prosecutors had demanded seven years in prison.
According to the ruling, Niita entered houses in Kanagawa Prefecture and stole 857,600 yen in cash and about 3.87 million yen worth of valuables between September 1999 and November 2000.
It said Niita targeted houses whose families tended to be out, based on police records held at his station.
He also stole a health insurance card that had been surrendered at Chigasaki Police Station by a young purse snatcher to use as identification to cash the stolen valuables at pawn shops, the ruling said.