Cheesecake stealer Darren Ashe’s bizarre southeast suburbs crime spree ends in a month in jail
A homeless, hungry man stole slices of cheesecake to feed his sweet-tooth addiction. But he is also addicted to drugs and nicked socks, jocks, slippers and iPads across the south eastern suburbs to sell to fund his hash habit.
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A sweet-toothed stealer with a taste for cheesecake has been jailed over a series of bizarre burglaries, thefts and deceptions.
Darren Ashe stole iPads, nicked socks and jocks by hiding them down his underpants and tried on slippers that had been delivered to a house.
The homeless 33-year-old would also walk into cheesecake shops, pick up a few slices and leave with a selection of the creamy desserts.
The drug addict also broke into houses under construction to find a place to sleep.
Ashe pleaded guilty to a swag of theft, burglary, trespass and drug-related charges at Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday.
The court heard on September 20 he went behind the counter of a Fountain Gate sushi shop and stole a $1600 iPad belonging to a staff member.
On August 14 Ashe was seen loitering around cars in Narre Warren South and found with 21g of cannabis.
On June 4 he broke into a Lynbrook factory and stole an iPad from a worker’s kitchen.
Later that day police were called to a report of a suspicious male trying on slippers outside a Hampton Park home.
Officers found him with a backpack, the slippers, a stolen skirt, handbag and shirt, and also the iPad that had been nicked earlier that day.
On April 6 he tried to steal $32 worth of socks and underpants from Target at Casey Central by stuffing them down his daks.
On February 16 he was found by a builder sleeping in a Hampton Park unit complex under construction.
On January 12 he used a credit card stolen from a car the day before to buy $165 worth of Kmart gift vouchers.
On December 30 last year and again on February 2 this year he pilfered cheesecake from a Hampton Park bakery, each time valued at around $10.
Most times he was caught he was unable to be interviewed due to his drug-addled state, and if he was coherent, he said he couldn’t remember the crimes.
He has 20 pages of dishonesty, theft, drug-related and bail breach priors, with most resulting in fines or good behaviour bonds.
Ashes’ defence lawyer said he was mentally unwell during this spate of offending, and had “broken down” due to being unable to get the support he needed.
Magistrate Tony Burns said he had no choice but to imprison him due to the sheer number of crimes he keeps committing.
Ashe was jailed for 30 days, minus 15 days he has already served on remand.
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