Ice-addled burglar jailed after stealing vans, utes and cars from commercial sites across southeast
A lifelong ice abuser with 39 burglaries and 14 car thefts among an array of previous offences has faced court again for another stealing frenzy across Dandenong, Cranbourne and Frankston.
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A chronic drug user smashed through garage doors with the vans, utes or cars he was stealing during a crime spree in southeastern suburbs.
Ice abuser Troy Jones has a prolific past, with 39 burglaries and 14 car thefts among an array of offences on his extensive criminal books.
Even a girlfriend’s overdose death and stints inside jail have not deterred him from taking drugs.
The 34-year-old pleaded guilty to another plethora of theft-related charges at Dandenong Magistrates’ Court yesterday.
The court heard he had not long been out of prison when he again began a spiral of crime-fuelled drug taking.
On April 18 this year he went to a Dandenong South business and cut a chain to get inside.
He stole a van full of tools and a fuel card and drove away, using the card to buy diesel and oil bottles worth $235 from a Point Cook servo early.
A week later he hit a Cranbourne West commercial site, and smashed a stolen VW out of the building, later being filmed driving it at McDonalds in Laverton.
Then on May 12 he returned to Dandenong South for another commercial burglary, stealing two utes.
On June 2 in Dandenong a Jeep was stolen from a business, which was seen at another attempted burglary in Dandenong South a short time later.
It all came crashing down for Jones on June 5, when police received a tip-off about suspicious activity outside a Werribee South house.
They found him in the stolen Jeep, with screwdrivers, stolen plates, gloves, five mobile phones, and ice in a satchel – the same satchel he had been pictured with at the scene of the burglaries.
He was on bail at the time for a shop theft from Frankston Bunnings, where he was caught by security guards stealing tools and hardware and found with ice and GHB.
The van, utes and car thefts were all linked back to him through fingerprints in the vehicles and CCTV footage.
He told police he stole because he wanted things to sell to buy drugs.
In court his defence lawyer said all of Jones’ crimes “were clearly underpinned by chronic substance abuse going back years”.
He said there had been times when he had maintained sobriety, which indicated he did have the potential to be offence-free, but then something would happen in his life and he would relapse.
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Magistrate Jack Vandersteen said Jones didn’t seem to be taking advantage of any of the chances he had been given.
“He has been on drug treatment orders, had corrections orders,” Mr Vandersteen said.
“Then there is this offending, they are high-end burglaries, on top of his history.
“He has had every opportunity.”
Jones was jailed for 30 months with a non-parole period of 16 months, minus 174 days he has already served in custody.
He was also disqualified from driving for two years.