Former SAPOL property officer Richard Lloyd Bartholomew found guilty of stealing property

A former cop who believed he was reducing waste as he was amassing a treasure trove of stolen goods, has been found guilty.

Former SAPOL officer Richard Bartholomew is seen outside the Christies Beach Court. NCA NewsWire / David Mariuz

A former property officer of the South Australia Police has been found guilty of stealing items he was in charge of destroying over a 10 year period.

Richard Lloyd Bartholomew was found guilty of 19 out of 20 counts of aggravated dishonestly taking property without consent back in August of this year.

During Bartholomew’s 2022 trial, a prosecutor told the Christies Beach Magistrates Court that police had found a number of stolen items – including various Sony PlayStation models, an iPad, a Canon Camera, Xbox, a HP computer monitor and Bosch, Makita and Milwaukee power tools – while carrying out a search of his Prospect Hill property on September 17, 2019.

SAPOL property officer Richard Bartholomew has been found guilty of stealing property from SA Police. Picture: Facebook

Bartholomew never disputed taking the items, but disputed he had deprived anyone, including South Australian police, of their property.

Andrew Culshaw, for Mr Bartholomew, said at the time, his client was in possession of the items in an attempt to reduce waste.

“Whether or not it was the right thing to do, there is a gap between that and dishonesty,” Mr Culshaw said.

“The misconduct was completely victimless and the only thing it did was to prevent waste.

“19 items were destined to be destroyed before they were taken by Mr Bartholomew.

“He didn’t think he was depriving anyone of their property.”

The court heard from a number of witnesses including Bartholomew’s former manager Inspector Damian Epps, and other members from South Australian police.

Mr Epps said Bartholomew had taken his role very seriously, having worked together over the course of a decade.

“He was very committed to the role,” Inspector Epps told the court.

“He certainly assisted me in trying to get the property room to a really good shape – he lead that and drove that quite well.”

The trial heard the detailed process property officers must carry out when defining items that have been placed in police protection.

They must be released to the owner, auction if not collected or approved for destruction.

Bartholomew was in charge of identifying which property would fit into each category before it was signed off by Inspector Epps.

The witness said he approved a number of items including a PlayStation, Xbox, a Toshiba laptop and a Canon camera for release.

These items were later found in Bartholomew’s possession.

In her published reasons, Magistrate Lynette Duncan said that while the police were not the “traditional owners” of the property items, they had gained a proprietary interest in each item by virtue of its possession and control of the property, including to determine how the property should be disposed of.

“I am satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant, as a highly experienced and knowledgeable police officer and designated property officer, well knew that SAPOL required items placed in its destruction bin and ‘signed off’ to be physically destroyed so that no one would get the use or benefit of the items,” Magistrate Duncan said.

“He knew that SAPOL, as owner, had extensive policies and procedures in place to ensure that occurred.

“He understood the important policy rationale behind that requirement.

“The defendant had access to the items as a result of his position and he well knew that,

particularly as a police officer, he was not permitted to obtain an unauthorised benefit

by taking for himself the property he had been authorised and entrusted to manage and

safeguard on behalf of SAPOL.”

Bartholomew was found guilty on 19 charges and acquitted of one – due to the Magistrate finding the item had not been in police custody prior to it being found in Bartholomew’s home.

For the remaining counts, Magistrate Duncan sentenced Bartholomew to four months imprisonment, suspended on a 12 month good behaviour bond.