Geelong man Nicholas Jazubzik wooed woman he met online with another man’s stolen money

For their first date, a Geelong man brought a woman he met online along on a crime spree that included a Mad Mex break-in and a car theft.

Nicholas Jazubzik lavished someone else's money on a date with a woman he met online. Picture: Facebook.

A GEELONG man took a woman he’d met online on a first date that quickly turned into a crime spree.

Despite meeting the woman for the first time that day, Nicholas Jazubzik, 38, ferried her across Geelong where he committed a number offences using another man’s money.

The Geelong Magistrates Court heard Jazubzik went to the Waurn Ponds Shopping Centre in November 2020 to pick up his date’s takeaway food order but instead returned carrying a black backpack he stole from a Mad Mex employee.

Jazubzik, who pleaded guilty to theft and handling the proceeds of crimes, had snuck into a store room and stolen a set of keys he then used to gain access to the Mad Mex staffroom.

Nicholas Jazubzik broke into a Mad Mex staffroom using a key he stole from the Waurn Ponds Shopping Centre cleaners room. Picture: Twitter.

When he returned to his date, Jazubzik removed a set of keys from the backpack and used them o open a nearby car.

As the woman watched on, Jazubzik stole a wallet and jewellery from inside the car.

The two then drove to the Grovedale Hotel, where Jazubzik bought more than $110 worth of alcohol for them both.

They then went to a nearby service station for fuel, where Jazubzik handed the woman a bank card and told her to pay.

During a separate dishonesty incident, Jazubzik was found on Little Malop St in possession of aftershave he stole from a nearby chemist.

After a further search, police uncovered several drugs of dependence on Jazubzik, including Xanax and diazepam.

Jazubzik’s lawyer, Mel Campbell, said the theft was “opportunistic to fund his drug habit, which is consistent with his criminal history”.

Ms Campbell said Jazubzik had been in a “significant downward spiral” but had spent the last 80 days in remand being “honest and reflective about his time in custody as a circuit breaker”.

Magistrate Peter Mellas said Jazubzik drifted into “thought-through offending” after “reasonably quickly, things went the wrong way”.

“This is offending where you went to the shopping centre, apparently to get food, and while you’re there you work out, or went about trying to find a way, to get hold of things that were of value or would give you the opportunity to get more money,” Mr Mellas said.

“You’re at the stage where you have to make some decisions about where you want to go. The court has run out of options.”

Jazubzik was sentenced to five months in prison.

Originally published as Geelong man Nicholas Jazubzik wooed woman he met online with another man’s stolen money