Taleah Ellis: Corrimal woman sentenced for theft of booze, smokes, surfboards in months-long crime spree

An aspiring nurse who embarked on a months-long crime spree, stealing booze, cigarettes, surfboards and a mountain bike, has been given one “last chance” to take back her life, a court has heard.

The epic stealing spree of an aspiring nurse, who packed more than 60 bottles of booze and 200-plus cigarette packets from a supermarket into a suitcase, has ended with a judge warning she was looking at her “last chance” to start her life over.

Talea Ellis, 22, was sentenced for larceny on multiple occasions across Bundeena, Wollongong and Corrimal at Downing Centre Court on Monday.

According to facts tendered to court Ellis took part in the theft of a Bundeena IGA and a number of apartment complexes with accomplices between February 2020 and March 2022.

About 3.32am on February 13 2020, Ellis and three others took suitcases, a crowbar and a sledgehammer into an IGA where they packed the suitcase with 62 bottles of alcohol, 219 packets of cigarettes and hundreds of packets of tobacco, the facts state.

Police arrested Ellis for this offence, and the court heard she was on bail when the subsequent offences occurred.

Talea Rose Ellis was sentenced at Downing Centre Court. Picture: Facebook.

Police facts state early this year Ellis and another man stole three surfboards valued at $600 each, a $1000 racing bike and a mountain bike from the basement garage of an apartment building in Wollongong. The total value of the goods stolen amounted to $11,500, the court heard.

Ellis later took part in another theft in an apartment complex in Corrimal, where household items were stolen.

22-year-old Ellis told the judge she wanted to turn her life around. Picture: Facebook.

The court heard Ellis had a difficult childhood and was under the influence of drugs while committing the thefts.

However, after seeing video footage of herself committing the crimes, Ellis was “upset” and began to cry as she felt “that was the most disgusting thing I have seen in my life,” the court heard.

She hoped the sentencing would mark “the start of the rest of her life” and wanted to study nursing and gain a beauty certification.

Judge Kara Shead told the court while only the IGA offence appeared to be planned – with the other theft offences merely opportunistic – they were still crimes “apt to cause distress for members of the community who do not expect the sanctity of the home to be violated”.

Judge Shead said Ellis: “seems to have finally realised she has a choice to make.”

“As trite as it is to say, this is a case where the accused is at a crossroads,” she said.

“This is your last chance. You need to do everything you can to get help. I really hope to never see you again.”

Ellis’s lawyer Ben Hartt told the court his client knew the stakes should she reoffend.

Judge Shead convicted Ellis of larceny on multiple occasions and sentenced to two years, six months and one week jail, with a non-parole period of 18 months.