John Ellingsen: Gun-dealing ice-addled burglar had shottie in boot
A tooled-up junkie thief who went on a burglary spree so he could buy a block of land is now spending his days in a prison cell.
South East
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A thief who raided rural properties and isolated houses was also a wannabe gun dealer, a court has heard.
John Edwin Ellingsen has been jailed after pleading guilty to a raft of burglary, proceeds of crime, drugs, firearms and driving charges at the Frankston Magistrates’ Court on Monday.
The 44-year-old concreter was caught red-handed by a homeowner as he burgled his property in May this year and remanded in custody.
A subsequent search of Ellingsen’s Frankston home uncovered an Aladdin’s cave of stolen stuff including electronics, jewellery, tools and even gardening equipment.
The court heard a man came home to his Langwarrin South property on May 24 this year to see a strange car in his driveway, with the boot and doors open and interior light on.
He realised he was being robbed so took the car keys out of the ignition and went to a neighbour to call cops.
When police arrived they saw Ellingsen with a torch on his head putting items in the car.
Inside the vehicle there was a single barrel shotgun in the boot and in Ellingsen’s pockets he had ammunition.
On his phone were messages offering guns for sale and texts asking to buy drugs.
When cops raided his home the next day they uncovered ice, cannabis, another rifle and a range of ammunition scattered around the home, and a plethora of pilfered items that had been taken in burglaries in Balnarring, Bangholme, Langwarrin South, Frankston and Mt Eliza.
One property had a safe containing $15,000 stolen, but that cash was not recovered.
He was also busted drug driving while speeding on both ice and cannabis in Carrum Downs in February this year and driving an unregistered car while unlicensed in Clayton South in August last year.
Defence lawyer Siobhan Stary said Ellingsen felt he had been dudded out of a $40,000 inheritance he wanted to use to set up his family with a block of land, so tried to get the money by other means.
“He understands that reasoning is very flawed,” she said.
She said there were no allegations the guns had been used in any other offending and with the exception of the last incident, no one had been at the properties.
She said the father of two didn’t have an extensive criminal history and submitted a short jail sentence followed by a corrections order would be appropriate.
But magistrate Ross Betts disagreed, saying these “terribly serious” crimes involving firearms and burglaries of this nature warranted a significant term of imprisonment.
Ellingsen was jailed for a total of 33 months with a non-parole period of 25 months, minus 84 days he has already served.
He was also banned from driving for four years and fined $3000.
