By Cam Lucadou-Wells
A MAN has been jailed after being discovered with four bags filled with $2420 of cigarette lighters, cigarettes, phone chargers and assorted goods inside a Hampton Park shop after closing hours.
Aaron Raymond Greenwood, 31, pleaded guilty to 54 charges including a litany of theft and deceptions at Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on 3 October.
Greenwood – who the court was told “had a serious drug habit” – had allegedly hid in an Uncle Buck’s store as it was locked up on 21 August.
The court was told the accused allegedly collected $2420 of goods after staff had left the store.
Greenwood then allegedly triggered a silent alarm when he broke into a next-door bottle shop through an adjoining roller door, Sgt Staples said.
In the Bottle-O Splash Liquor store, Greenwood allegedly added $155 of cigarettes and a can of Red Bull to his haul.
A bottle-shop staff member, alerted by the alarm, arrived at the store and confronted Greenwood – who then hid in Uncle Buck’s before his arrest by police.
Greenwood, who said he used ice and GHB, was on bail at the time over other theft matters in June and July.
Some of those charges related to him allegedly using a stolen driver’s licence to test drive – and not return – two vehicles from separate car yards.
He was also accused of using the stolen licence to attempt to take out a $5000 bank loan in Frankston, and to buy several iPhone 6S phones at various outlets.
Greenwood also racked up about $2000 of sub-$100 purchases from stolen credit cards in a pre-dawn spending spree at servos and supermarkets in May.
There was also an outstanding warrant for failing to appear in court on 16 August on charges of disqualified driving and using an unregistered vehicle.
Greenwood’s lawyer conceded the accused’s offending had spiralled out of control while using GHB, prescription drugs and ice.
However, his 43-day stint in remand custody – his first time in jail – was “sobering”, the lawyer said.
Magistrate Jack Vandersteen noted Greenwood’s “volume” of offending, all after being put on a community corrections order in late April.
“You could see the wheels were falling off.”
Mr Vandersteen said it was a shame Greenwood was only appreciating the opportunity of the community corrections order after a drug-free stint in jail.
Greenwood was sentenced to a further 47 days in jail and disqualified from driving for six months.
His CCO was varied to a further 12 months after release, with drug, mental health and judicial monitoring.
“There will be unfortunately no excuses if you don’t comply with the corrections order and re-offend,” Mr Vandersteen said.
“You will face a significant term of imprisonment.”
