Josie Johnson caught by Watsonia Community Voice members
Vigilant Banyule residents have helped the law catch up with the teen behind the “annoying” crimes taking place in their area — just two days after she was let out of jail.
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Vigilant Banyule residents have helped bust a 19-year-old committing “annoying” crimes in their area — stealing mail, valuables and breaking into a house.
Josie Johnson had only been out of custody for two days when watchful members of the public caught her up to no good.
The young mother fronted Heidelberg Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, July 21, pleading guilty to the latest batch of charges.
The court heard three different people contacted police about Johnson within hours on July 6.
A man saw Johnson rummaging through letterboxes at a block of units on Greensborough Rd, Watsonia about 2pm and confronted her, finding mail strewn on the ground around her.
He took a photo of her and posted it in the Facebook group, Watsonia Community Voice.
The Facebook post led to a woman identifying Johnson, and sending the man her Facebook profile to show to police, and led to another woman recognising Johnson when she saw the teen acting suspiciously that evening.
The woman saw Johnson with a male on Kempston St, Watsonia North, about 6.45pm, before the pair disappeared into a driveway, and the woman found mail on the ground where Johnson had come from.
A neighbour then noticed when Johnson and the male broke into a house in Greensborough about 6.45pm, causing $330 damage.
The woman heard banging and saw a torchlight, but knew the residents weren’t home so called police, the court heard.
She then saw a man’s silhouette in the kitchen window and called police again, where they found Johnson about 8pm.
She had 1.8g of cannabis on her, as well as a stolen phone, e-tag and car keys.
Johnson had only been released from custody on July 4 over crimes she committed in May and June, and was placed on a corrections order for earlier crimes in May, which the new offending breached.
Her lawyer, Chris McLennan, said Johnson, who was smiling during the hearing, really needed to “get her life in order” and grow up quickly.
“She’s making some pretty poor decisions,” he said.
Mr McLennan said her crimes weren’t the worst crimes, but were repetitive and annoying for everyone involved.
“She’s not an axe murderer, she’s genuinely a decent person,” he said.
Mr McLennan said Johnson had had a difficult start in life and that her 12-month-old child was not living with her.
Magistrate Helen Murphy said there wasn’t much option but to give Johnson a jail sentence after all the chances she had already given her in earlier months.
Johnson was sentenced to three months’ jail, having already served 15 days.
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