Rhyss Dee: Chippy junkie nailed for bobcat, ute and trailer thefts
A carpenter boss is looking down the barrel of a long stint behind bars after he repeatedly stole to feed his rampant drug habit.
South East
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A druggie tradie who nicked an expensive excavator, a trailer and a toilet and stole a car so he could sell them to pay for ice has been given more than two years in jail.
Rhyss Dee, also known as Rhyss Burrows, was sentenced at the Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday to 27 months’ prison.
The stealing scammer had ripped off hire companies and a car dealership to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars in a series of rorts.
The 25-year-old Highett carpentry boss had earlier pleaded guilty to 14 theft, obtain property by deception, failing to provide driver details, corrections order and bail breach charges.
The court heard in December 2019 he organised a bobcat excavator to be delivered to a Dandenong South factory site, paying by bank transfer for one day’s hire.
When the $25,000 machine turned up he hitched it to his ute and drove off.
His bank account was then closed, he disconnected his phone number and the address he provided was found to be fake.
In July last year he hired a toilet and trailer from a Dandenong company, selling it on Facebook Marketplace for $1500 to an unsuspecting buyer.
The purchaser is now out of pocket as he had to give the dunny and trailer back to the hirer.
In August last year he hired a $10,000 trailer, paying for one week but never taking it back.
That was recovered much later in a police sting at a Braeside factory after he had listed it for sale online.
In August 2019 he hired demolition saws worth $4000 from a Cheltenham shop, flogging one to a Parkdale pawnbrokers.
His final crime was in April this year when he pretended to look at vehicles at a Cheltenham car dealership, but instead he jumped in a $47,000 ute and sped off.
Dee was tracked to his Highett address, arrested and remanded in custody.
The bobcat, ute and one of the saws are yet to be recovered, and he is refusing to say where they went.
Dee also refused to tell cops who was driving his ute when it was involved in two police incidents.
Defence lawyer Bernard Campigli said his client had prospered on an apprenticeship, but also came into contact with tradies who did drugs which drew him into using ice.
Dee told the court he was apologetic about his crimes and wanted “to do the right thing to make up for my mistakes”.
Magistrate Andrew Halse told him he had “made a conscious choice to lead a life of crime and drugs”.
“There is little by way of mitigation,” Mr Halse said.
“Your prospects of rehabilitation are extremely guarded at the present point in time.
“(Your crimes) are breathtaking in their dishonesty and arrogance.”
Dee was jailed for a total of 27 months, with a non-parole period of 16 months, minus 145 days he has already served.
He was also ordered to repay a total of $64,000 to his victims and was banned from driving for three years.
