Jack Schuback: Storytelling motorbike thief finds out fate

A Wollongong man who got caught up in his own fib about how he wound up in possession of a stolen motorbike has been sentenced. Read about what happened.

A young Wollongong man with an “extensive history with police” has avoided jail time after stealing a motorbike and being caught with a firearm.

Jack Schuback faced Wollongong Local Court on Tuesday charged with taking and driving a conveyance without consent, possession of ammunition with a license/permit/authority and possession of an unauthorised firearm.

Magistrate Michael O’Brien told Schuback he was “a young man with most of his life ahead of him” before sentencing him to a 12-month community corrections order, 63 hours of community service and imposing a $100 fine.

“I hope your days of stealing other people’s property are over,” the magistrate said.

The incident occurred before dawn on Monday, September 27 last year when Schuback and an unknown co-accused entered an underground car park on Hindmarsh Ave in North Wollongong.

Jack Schuback was sentenced for stealing a motorbike and other offences. Picture: Facebook

Security footage captured Schuback wearing black Nike shoes while sporting a black Nike drawstring bag – his arm tattoo was also clearly visible.

Schuback made a few failed attempts at starting the 2021 Royal Enfield motorbike before he was successful, with the 23-year-old then seen riding it out of the lot.

Two days later the motorbike was located in a carpark on Prince Edward Dr in Dapto with it being seized and taken for forensic examination.

At 8am on Thursday, September 30, police attended a unit on 376 Prince Edward Dr in Kanahooka (less than 1km from where the vehicle was found) where they arrested Schuback.

Jack Schuback was sentenced in Wollongong Local Court on Tuesday.

Police found pictures of the motorbike on his phone as well as a Facebook Messenger conversation where he told another person a concocted story about him being chased by police before dumping the vehicle in a bush near where he was staying.

Schuback denied he knew where the motorbike was originally stolen from, telling police he was told about it by “someone in Warilla” who was trying to sell it.

Schuback told police he wanted to ride the bike before purchasing it, but knowing it was stolen, he decided to steal it again from that person – who he refused to identify.

Later that day, police searched the address he had been arrested at where they found the Nike drawstring bag he was seen in the CCTV with on the morning the motorbike was stolen.

Police seized the bag as well as two black jumpers, a pair of black gloves, a small plastic resealable bag containing seeds, two bullets, a silver pen gun and a pair of shorts with a small green purse in one of the pockets.