Ivan Gumenyuk, a former investigator with the Transport Department for the Northwest, has been sentenced to 3 years and 10 months in a general regime penal colony for fraud and abuse of power. The Frunzensky District Court of St. Petersburg delivered the sentence after finding Gumenyuk guilty of stealing evidence while investigating thefts from Russian Railways.

The court established that Gumenyuk stole end valves, connecting hoses, and drums, worth 4.6 million rubles, that had been seized as material evidence. He accomplished this by forging documents related to the return of the items and enlisting the help of two other defendants, Artem Nikolaev and Garik Petrosyan.

Nikolaev and Petrosyan sold the stolen goods for 1.6 million rubles, with 1.2 million rubles being transferred to Gumenyuk. Both men received 3-year suspended sentences for their involvement.

In addition to his prison sentence, Gumenyuk is prohibited from holding positions in law enforcement agencies for three years.

The defendants have all admitted guilt and expressed remorse for their actions. A civil claim filed by Russian Railways for damages will be reviewed in a separate hearing. Gumenyuk was initially detained on November 15, 2023, following an investigation that revealed he had fraudulently arranged for the transfer of the material evidence from a temporary storage warehouse to his own warehouse, where it was later sold.