Jason Mark Hatch, Christopher John Varley, Krystle Skye O’Reilly sentenced for Sunshine Coast ATM thefts

An “organised crime enterprise” that stole more than $200,000 in cash from Sunshine Coast ATMs has been busted after the final group members were sentenced.

A married couple and a father were motivated by their financial hardships to join an “organised crime enterprise” that broke through the ceilings of businesses to steal more than $204,000 from Sunshine Coast ATMs.

Jason Mark Hatch, Christopher John Varley and Krystle Skye O’Reilly were sentenced in Maroochydore District Court on Monday after they pleaded guilty to their involvement in the crime group that collectively stole $204,000 in cash between August 2017 and March 2018.

The court heard the trio were part of a group of five that targeted ATMs by breaking and entering 13 businesses between Burpengary and the Sunshine Coast.

Maroochydore District Court heard the four male offenders wore dark clothing to avoid detection and used UHF radios and headsets to communicate while they used a variety of tools to break through the business’s ceilings.

The group caused severe damage to each business including the Palmwoods Bowls Club and inflicted a total loss of $308,000.

The group also had an agreed upon pay scale for each member based on their level of involvement in the crime.

The court heard Hatch, Varley and O’Reilly were motivated by financial stress.

Varley pleaded guilty to 27 offences including two counts of breaking and entering a premise by break and stealing and wilfully damaging ATMs.

O’Reilly pleaded guilty to nine offences including stealing a sum of money over $5000 and entering a premise and stealing by break.

Crown prosecutor Rebecca Marks said Varley was involved in stealing $198,754 in cash and caused a total loss of $303,122 to the victim businesses.

The court heard the now 43-year-old made full admissions to police on his involvement and acted as a lookout on seven occasions including the break-in at SPAR Supermarket Palmwoods, where $113,820 was stolen.

Varley also entered five stores including Noosaville’s Friendly Grocer, where $44,000 was stolen and Maroochydore BCF where rods and reels were taken.

The court heard O’Reilly, Varley’s wife, was never present at the offence locations however assisted in stealing $174,474 after preparing and offering her car for her husband’s use at five of the locations.

Ms Marks agreed O’Reilly had less involvement, but said the now 38-year-old benefited from knowingly involving herself in the crime syndicate.

Ms Marks said O’Reilly had described the stolen funds, given to her husband, as like winning the lotto in text messages.

She said O’Reilly had lied to police about her involvement and suggested a three-year prison sentence with a parole release date after she served a third.

Ms Marks described Jason Mark Hatch, who pleaded guilty to 22 charges including three counts of stealing property valued over $5000 and eight counts of wilful damage, as one of the primary offenders on November 11 when his sentence was part-heard in the Maroochydore Districts Court.

She also said he caused $95,768 worth of damage and stole $172,840 in cash from nine Sunshine Coast and surrounding businesses.

Hatch was remanded in custody and his sentence was adjourned so the trio’s could be dealt with together.

On Monday Ms Marks suggested a prison sentence of no less than six years for both Hatch and Varley, but said Varley could be awarded for his high level of co-operation with police.

Varley and O’Reilly’s defence barrister John Jacob said the offending was out of character for the former Kawana State High students and said they were unlikely to reoffend.

He said while Varley had a dated and irrelevant criminal history the couple had not reoffended in the three years since the crimes and had been working full time.

He said the use of O’Reilly’s car was useful rather than essential to the crime group.

The Palmwoods Bowls Club.

He asked for O’Reilly’s prison sentence to be fashioned so she could stay in the community and suggested Varley could be given a prison sentence as low as five years to be released after 18 months.

He said Varley, who gave a very early plea of guilty, was very cooperative with police and was remorseful for his actions.

Mr Jacob said Varley was relieved to be able to serve his time and put the offences behind him.

“He knows he took the wrong path to mitigate his financial circumstances and has accepted responsibility for doing so,” he said.

Mr Jacob said Varley could have been given a lesser head sentence than Hatch.

Hatch’s defence barrister Nick Brown made submissions on the 41-year-old’s behalf on November 11.

Judge Glen Long sentenced Hatch to six years in prison with a parole eligibility date of July 7, 2023 and Varley to six years with a parole eligibility date May 24, 2023 after serving 18 months.

O’Reilly was given a two-year prison sentence suspended for three years.

Lucas Michael Wagner was described as the key player and organiser of the group when he was sentenced to seven years in prison with a parole eligibility date on November 19, 2022.

The fifth member of the group was sentenced in closed court on June 17, 2019.

Mr Long said he had balanced the sentences to reflect each defendant’s involvement.