Troy Hearfield jailed for stealing boat motor
A two-time premiership-winning A-League star has landed back in prison following yet another indiscretion, only months after he was jailed for stealing from an adult store.
Police & Courts
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A two-time premiership-winning A-League star’s spectacular fall from grace has continued, as he landed behind bars for stealing and selling his landlord’s boat motor.
Troy Hearfield was once a star who played for Australia in its U20 and U23 squads, and participated in the Olyroos’ 2008 Beijing Olympics campaign.
He is now serving a minimum of four months’ imprisonment for larceny and disposing of a vessel part after flogging off his landlord’s $4000 boat motor.
Police facts tendered to Coffs Harbour District Court in December reveal Hearfield leased the victim’s Woolgoolga holiday home as his residence between June and October 2024.
Just weeks after Hearfield moved in, a second victim saw a Yamaha outboard 90 horsepower motor for sale for $3800 on Facebook Marketplace.
“The motor was being sold by Troy Hearfield who was posing under the Facebook profile ‘Matt Lowe’,” the police facts state.
The second victim arranged to collect the motor, but ultimately made a report to Coffs Harbour police when Hearfield failed to show up or return his deposit.
A few days later, the second victim received the motor with multiple parts missing or broken.
Hearfield’s follow-up promise to send the missing pieces was never fulfilled.
In late August, the landlord contacted Hearfield to inform him he would come to the home and “give the boat motor a run”.
“The first victim observed the motor wires had been cut upon the removal of the motor, and his Ryobi hand drill, which is supposed to be secured in the garden shed, sitting in the hull of the boat along with a number of other tools which are believed to have been used to remove the motor and don’t belong to him,” police facts state.
Hearfield denied the allegations and the landlord contacted police.
Forensic analysis revealed Hearfield’s fingerprints in two locations on the boat’s stern, and Hearfield ultimately admitted to providing the second victim with the Yamaha motor.
The former footballer pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced to eight months’ imprisonment with a four month non-parole period after a sentence appeal at Coffs Harbour District Court.
He is also to compensate the first victim for the $4000 motor.
The police fact sheet reveals Hearfield has multiple previous charges mostly related to drugs, breaking and entering, possessing stolen goods and driving.
The Tamworth-born right back made his professional football debut with the Newcastle Jets in 2007, and won the 2008 and 2012 premierships with the Jets and Central Coast Mariners respectively.
Hearfield parted ways with The Central Coast Mariners, and the A-League, after failing a mid-season drug test.
In November 2023, The Daily Telegraph reported Hearfield was jailed for a minimum of seven months for larceny, shoplifting, prohibited drug possession, and three counts of driving disqualified after stealing a Makita chainsaw and drill from Bunnings and “Atomic enhancing pills” worth $190 from a Port Macquarie adult store.
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