Christopher Pike: Frankston thief’s Bunnings hall of fame shame
Thieves don’t want to be recognised as they walk into a store, but this Frankston druggie became very well known at Bunnings.
South East
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A junkie was so infamous for his thieving that Bunnings had a warning alert whenever he entered one of their stores, a court has heard.
Christopher Pike repeatedly ripped off the hardware giant, stealing tool batteries, chainsaws and expensive heaters before he became a target for loss prevention staff.
The Frankston 36-year-old also stole a van from a rental company and drove to government offices while disqualified in an unregistered car.
He also led police on a car chase and ran off when cornered in a dead end, but he had left his wallet and methadone behind so was easy to track down.
Pike pleaded guilty to a series of thefts, disqualified driving, failing to stop, unregistered vehicle and bail breach charges at the online Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on Monday.
The court heard in October 2019 Pike went to Bunnings in Springvale and stole a chainsaw valued at $379.
A short while after he tried to sell it on Facebook Marketplace — from an account in his own name and with his mugshot in full view.
In January 2020 he nicked two heaters worth $1200 from Bunnings in Scoresby, throwing them over a fence into a laneway and going back to collect them a short time after.
Days later he stole expensive tool batteries worth $468 from the Preston Bunnings store, again trying to offload them on Marketplace.
By now Bunnings were onto him and had Melbourne-wide alerts out for every store to keep a watch for him.
So when he went into the Frankston store later that month staff knew to keep an eye out.
He tried to steal more tool batteries, this time worth $1000, but when confronted by security he dropped them, ran to his car and drove off, again while disqualified.
When he was finally arrested in August last year he refused to be interviewed.
His defence lawyer said her client had a history of drug abuse, including intravenous use, and his theft crimes were to feed his habit.
She said he had a major heart issue last year which involved a month in ICU that was directly linked to drugs, but he was now clean.
She said since then he had got his life back on track, was working full-time and was “cautiously reformed”.
Magistrate Andrew Halse said he required proof of Pike’s claimed drug abstinence, and sent him for a community corrections order assessment.
He will be sentenced on April 30.
