Father-of-six phone theft crime solved after CCTV posted on Hastings hub Facebook page
A father-of-six who found a stranger’s mobile phone in a Hastings street at first denied having it, and then said he was too busy to hand it in to police. And he was found out after alert witnesses took to social media to report the theft.
South East
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Thanks to an alert Hastings hub Facebook page poster a crime has been solved and a ‘stolen’ phone returned to its owner.
Allen Albert Minchington pleaded guilty to one charge of theft by finding at Frankston Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, November 12.
The court heard Minchington was driving his Nissan Patrol along Victoria St in Hastings at around 3.25pm on May 10 this year when he spotted something lying on the road.
He slowed down and asked his 12-year-old son to pick up the object, which turned out to be an $800 mobile phone, and drove off.
The incident was seen by a witness and was being recorded on a nearby shop’s CCTV.
That footage was then uploaded onto a Hastings community Facebook page and the car and the owner were quickly identified and reported to police.
On May 16 officers went to Minchington’s home and asked him to return the phone, but he initially denied having it before changing his mind and handing it over.
He represented himself in court saying he had six children, had gone through a relationship break-up and had been too busy to go to the police station and hand the phone in.
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Minchington, who has a long rap-sheet of priors including for assaults, dishonesty, theft and handling crimes, said he had “been out of trouble for quite a while”.
Magistrate Dominic Lennon said the wisest move Minchington could have made was to have handed the mobile in to police and avoided another court appearance.
He was convicted and fined $750. The phone has been returned to its rightful owner.