<p>An employee of a security company who made off with nearly $500,000 before turning himself in to the Paraguayan police 30 hours later with just $200 in his pocket said he had distributed the cash among the poor.<br /><br />"I robbed the thief," Carlos Gonzalez said shortly after surrendering to authorities at a police station in the Asuncion suburb of Villa Elisa early Thursday.<br /><br />Police had been searching for the suspect since Tuesday afternoon, when he took advantage of the momentary absence of his co-workers to drive away with the armoured money truck.<br /><br />The legal counsel of the Prosegur company, Jose Domingo Almada, told EFE that it was an obvious "defensive strategy" on Gonzalez's part to feign to be "a modern-day Robin Hood".<br /><br />According to the suspect's version of events, he "only" took one bag containing 600 million guaranis ($150,000) before abandoning the armoured truck with the motor running near a bus terminal and beginning a journey in taxi to distribute the cash.<br /><br />He said he passed out wads of 5, 10 and 15 million guaranies and kept the equivalent of $200 for himself.<br /><br />But Prosegur's Almada said just over $1.1 million was found in the abandoned van and the company's records show that the "missing amount undoubtedly comes to at least" $470,000.</p>.<p>In an interview from jail with Radio Ñanduti, Gonzalez said the company does not pay its workers "their fair share" and makes them work more than 12 hours a day for a monthly salary of $630.<br /><br />"They rob us," he said.<br /><br />But Almada countered by saying that "Prosegur complies 100 percent with all (labor-code) regulations".<br /><br />The Spanish-owned company has faced a year of labour strife in Paraguay, including a strike last July involving some 200 workers. Many of those who took part in the job action were later fired, according to their union.</p>.<p>Prosegur employs some 1,100 people and posted nearly $40 million in revenue in 2011, tops in its sector in Paraguay. </p>
<p>An employee of a security company who made off with nearly $500,000 before turning himself in to the Paraguayan police 30 hours later with just $200 in his pocket said he had distributed the cash among the poor.<br /><br />"I robbed the thief," Carlos Gonzalez said shortly after surrendering to authorities at a police station in the Asuncion suburb of Villa Elisa early Thursday.<br /><br />Police had been searching for the suspect since Tuesday afternoon, when he took advantage of the momentary absence of his co-workers to drive away with the armoured money truck.<br /><br />The legal counsel of the Prosegur company, Jose Domingo Almada, told EFE that it was an obvious "defensive strategy" on Gonzalez's part to feign to be "a modern-day Robin Hood".<br /><br />According to the suspect's version of events, he "only" took one bag containing 600 million guaranis ($150,000) before abandoning the armoured truck with the motor running near a bus terminal and beginning a journey in taxi to distribute the cash.<br /><br />He said he passed out wads of 5, 10 and 15 million guaranies and kept the equivalent of $200 for himself.<br /><br />But Prosegur's Almada said just over $1.1 million was found in the abandoned van and the company's records show that the "missing amount undoubtedly comes to at least" $470,000.</p>.<p>In an interview from jail with Radio Ñanduti, Gonzalez said the company does not pay its workers "their fair share" and makes them work more than 12 hours a day for a monthly salary of $630.<br /><br />"They rob us," he said.<br /><br />But Almada countered by saying that "Prosegur complies 100 percent with all (labor-code) regulations".<br /><br />The Spanish-owned company has faced a year of labour strife in Paraguay, including a strike last July involving some 200 workers. Many of those who took part in the job action were later fired, according to their union.</p>.<p>Prosegur employs some 1,100 people and posted nearly $40 million in revenue in 2011, tops in its sector in Paraguay. </p>