Sandringham ice addict took selfie wearing stolen police vest, gun holster and cap
That’s one way to get noticed. A serial offender who tried to impress his Facebook friends with a selfie wearing pilfered police gear had his social boasting backfire badly — when the cops saw his posts.
Inner South
Don't miss out on the headlines from Inner South . Followed categories will be added to My News.
A drug addict’s attempt to impress his Facebook friends with pictures of himself wearing pilfered police gear has landed him in jail.
Thomas Patchett’s social boasting backfired badly when officers uncovered images of him wearing the nicked ballistics vest, gun holster and baseball cap.
A subsequent search of the 27-year-old’s Sandringham home also uncovered a knuckleduster.
The prolific offender with a 24-page rap sheet was high on ice when he bought the nicked cop gear from a bloke he wouldn’t name in Springvale.
The equipment had been stolen from a police car in December 2017.
Patchett pleaded guilty to dealing with proceeds of crime and weapon charges at Moorabbin Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday.
He brought in the big guns for his court appearance, with his UK-based grandparents seated in the gallery to support him.
Patchett has a lengthy criminal history, including being jailed for six months last July for stealing a car and handling stolen war medals while on a community corrections order for drug trafficking, assault and weapons offending.
He managed to successfully appeal that sentence down to a two-year community corrections order at the County Court in October.
This week the court heard police raided his Sandringham home on January 30 this year and found prescription medication, a knuckleduster and his phone.
His mobile revealed a selfie he had taken of himself wearing the stolen police gear that he had sent to his Facebook friends.
He told officers he had met up with an unnamed male in Springvale and as he had been heavily using ice at the time, he thought it would be impressive to buy the police equipment and show his mates online.
MORE: BAYSIDE SHOPPING CENTRE BARRIER THIEF THOUGHT HE WAS GOD
VIETNAM VET BASHED BOARDER OVER HEROIN OFFER
DRUGGIE JAILED AFTER DRIVING AT POLICE
His defence lawyer said he was doing well on his corrections order and during the last six weeks he had clean urine screens.
He said Patchett had had a “powerful addiction” to ice since becoming involved with the drug in 2016, but believed he had now “genuinely turned a corner”.
Magistrate Thomas Barrett refused a defence request for a good behaviour bond, instead convicting Patchett and fining him a total of $2000.