Melbourne County Court: Shaun Tantrum guilty of impersonating a police officer

A Melbourne man impersonated a police officer to pull over unsuspecting Audi motorists, taking off with their cars that he stashed in an underground carpark.

A Melbourne construction worker impersonated a police officer — complete with flashing lights on his car — to steal vehicles that he hid in an underground carpark.

Shaun Tantrum, 31, pleaded guilty at the Melbourne County Court on Tuesday to a raft of charges including aggravated carjacking, possessing an imitation firearm, handling stolen goods, possessing cocaine, possessing methamphetamine, two counts of impersonating a police officer and possessing a prohibited weapon.

In a court document read by prosecutor Amy Peek-Lasry, Tantrum followed black Audi in East Melbourne at 2.10am on December 17, 2021, when he activated his red and blue flashing lights.

Believing it was police, the Audi driver stopped and asked why he was pulled over when Tantrum approached his vehicle.

Tantrum told the man there was a “hit-run” incident in the area and “police” were searching for a “black Audi”.

Tantrum, with a co-accused, pulled over a driver in a black Audi pretending to be police officers. Picture: Supplied

The man asked Tantrum if he had a warrant or ID to prove he was a police officer, but Tantrum told him to hand over his ID instead to his co-accused, who followed in another car.

Tantrum’s demands began to get aggressive and he forced the man to get out of the car before Tantrum got in and drove off.

The man attempted to stop Tantrum by opening the passenger door but was punched by Tantrum, leaving him with a broken nose and fractured eye socket, the court heard.

“I’ve got a gun — do you want to die?” Tantrum said.

Tantrum drove away in the stolen vehicle and parked it in an underground carpark of a motel he was staying at — the Parkdale Motor Inn in Mentone.

Tantrum repeated the offending on December 26 that year, where he used his flashing lights to pull over a blue Audi on Forest Red Gum Dr in Mickleham.

The court heard Tantrum hid both Audi vehicles in an underground carpark at the Parkdale Motor Inn in Mentone. Picture: Facebook

“Come out of your car there’s a problem with your vehicle,” Tantrum told the male driver.

“Don’t move, you are under arrest,” Tantrum said, wrapping duct tape around the man’s wrists, leaving him on the ground before driving off in the Audi.

The court heard on December 27 the same year Tantrum was in Thornbury and failed to stop when police tried to pull him over in the stolen black Audi.

From December 24 2021 to January 4 2022, Tantrum committed a string of fuel thefts in the black Audi across Melbourne

Police discovered the stolen Audis in the motel car park and arrested Tantrum on January 8 2022.

Police found a handgun, butterfly knife, flash light, two rolls of black duct tape, a crystal substance and zip locks bags of white powder in one of the vehicles, the court heard.

Tantrum’s defence lawyer Bruce Nibbs said Tantrum worked in the construction industry and his life was “better” when he was “on the tools”.

Tantrum also had prior criminal history, served community corrections orders and was jailed for four months due to cocaine trafficking.

“He’s been given fairly generous sentences all the way through,” Judge Geoffrey Chettle said.

“The history of drugs has been your problem.”

Judge Chettle convicted Tantrum and sentenced him to six years’ jail, with a non-parole period of three years and nine months.