Kevin Northcott caught after Endeavour Hills community Facebook group member recognised him in CCTV
A man who didn’t bother to disguise himself when he broke into a car in Endeavour Hills and stole cards and cash has been busted thanks to the power of social media and a community group.
South East
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A thief who broke into a car and stole cash, cards — and Japanese text books — was caught after a Facebook community group member recognised him and dobbed him in to police.
The victim posted a CCTV clip of the break-in on an Endeavour Hills social media page and the crook was quickly identified and reported to police.
Kevin Northcott, 25, pleaded guilty to theft at Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday.
The court heard the Endeavour Hills woman went to her car on the morning of September 20 last year to find it had been ransacked.
She went back into her home to check her CCTV and could clearly see two males, one of them Northcott, getting in through the driver’s door and rummaging around inside the car.
He took the woman’s handbag, wallet, bank and Medicare cards, driving licence and her Japanese text books worth a total of around $600.
The theft was reported to police, but nothing came of it so the woman posted the video on Facebook a few days later.
She then received texts identifying Northcott, and he was reported to police.
When he was arrested he denied it was him, even though his ID photo clearly matched the person in the video.
He was bailed, but on June 25 this year he was rearrested and remanded.
His defence lawyer said her unemployed client, who has 12 pages of prior convictions, had longstanding issues with drug abuse, homelessness and a mental impairment.
She said he had already spent 76 days behind bars, and was willing to comply with a community corrections order.
Magistrate Andrew Halse remanded him in custody to allow time for a corrections assessment to be made.
Northcott will appear in court again on September 17 for sentencing.
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