Cocky crim’s arrogant boasts after stealing nine guns at Hayfield, ransacking Maffra High School shed
A bumptious burglar who boasted of his hauls at a high school, house and earth moving company in the state’s east has had his ego quashed after having his time in court. But a sad series of events led to the crime spree, it has been revealed.
South East
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A cocky crim who ransacked a high school in the state’s southeast and bragged of the heist to his friends has been jailed.
Ben Weegberg, 31, was sentenced in the County Court on August 21 to three years’ jail — with a minimum of two years — after pleading guilty to multiple burglary and theft charges.
It comes after Weegberg claimed he had ‘hit the mother load ’ in messages sent to friends after he and another man broke into a shed at Maffra Secondary College and stole five Giant mountain bikes in the early hours of August 11 last year.
‘(I’ve) hit the mother load …(there’s) heaps of bike s***, heaps of more bikes if we want (them),’ the messages read.
Weegberg, who was on bail for making threats to kill and other charges, also boasted of his haul when he stole nine guns after smashing and breaking through a window at a Hayfield house on December 19.
He also pinched a number of chainsaws, sanders and battery operated drills as well as an air compressor, whipper snipper, lawnmower and television.
‘(The house is) a gold mine,’ a message to friends read.
And between December 20 and 21, he raided shipping containers at an earth moving company, loading a wheelbarrow, chainsaw, impact gun and generators into a stolen ute.
Police found the car abandoned in bushland just 10 minutes away from the business before swooping on Weegberg at Hayfield on December 23.
More incriminating messages on Weegberg’s phone proved he peddled close to 30g of ice to associates between July and September.
Judge Frank Gucciardo heard Weegberg stole items to support his drug habit which spun out of control after a number of traumatic incidents including the death of his former girlfriend and when a woman committed suicide by jumping in front of a truck he was driving as he worked as a removalist in 2017.
He left his job of 12 years one year after the suicide incident.
“You engaged in the offending to gain money for further dug use however (your mother and sister) remain supportive of you,” Mr Gucciardo said.
“(You show a desire) to return to work, to abstain from drug use and to rehab yourself.
“Dealing with traumas of the past may provide you with good prospects of rehabilitation, which should be encouraged.”
Weegberg was jailed for three years and nine months.
He will be made eligible for parole in two years and three months.
brittany.goldsmith@news.com.au
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