Southeast stealers: Terrible thieves, bungling burglars and ‘recycling’ robbers face our courts
Whether it’s a man who tried to break into Sorrento police station or a crook who stole bedsheets for a Moorabbin brothel, there’s been a few thieves who do things a bit different in the southeast. Here’s some of the most peculiar.
South East
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A befuddled burglar who broke into a cop shop, a crook who stole bedsheets for a brothel and a woman who stole meat and cheese because she lacked vitamins are among thieves who faced southeast courts.
COP SHOP FLOP
A boozed-up burglar went on a thieving spree and ended up trying — and failing — to break into a cop shop.
Billy John Tovey took a till, a tip jar and a bottle of Jim Beam from a cafe and stole from cars before his amateurish attempts to get inside Sorrento police station and a nearby pub fell flat.
But the Safety Beach 20-year-old was not without a conscience, dobbing himself in to police.
He had been so out of it on drink and Xanax that when he woke up he didn’t know why he had the stolen items in his backpack and went to Mornington police station to hand himself in.
The magistrate commended his remorse, saying his confession saved him from jail time.
He was given a community corrections order with unpaid work and drug and alcohol counselling.
BROTHERLY BROTHEL LOVE
A serial shoplifter flogged shopping trolleys full of stolen sheets to a brothel to help out his brother who worked at a Moorabbin sex den.
Entrepreneurial thief Steven Leslie Bjorksten nicked thousands of dollars’ worth of high-end linen from shopping centres and then offloaded it to his sibling.
As well as stealing loads of bedding packs, the Caulfield North 36-year-old pilfered cosmetics, cookware and candles from Knox and Chadstone shopping centres.
Bjorksten was caught after he broke into a car, stealing candles but leaving his fingerprints behind.
He was given a 12-month community corrections order with work hours and mental health counselling.
TOILET TROUBLE
A thief used a dunny to steal a bowl full of expensive tapware from Bunnings in a bizarre crime spree committed across the southeast.
Stivin Salam Allos, also known as Steven Allos, hid the taps in the cistern of a toilet to evade having to pay for the $2500 worth of costly plumbing equipment.
The 31-year-old also led cops on a dangerous pursuit, attacked his grandma and smashed up her house with an axe, and walked into a police station carrying drugs.
He was sentenced to 144 days in jail, classed as time served, and released on a 12-month community corrections order. He was also disqualified from driving for six months.
RECYCLING ROBBER
A boutique clothing retailer was caught trying to flog stolen fashion items at a market — complete with shop tags and labels — after a public tip-off.
Danielle Payne was nabbed by undercover cops who then raided her McKinnon home and found more than 300 items worth up to $50,000 that had been nicked from shopping centres.
The 45-year-old, who used to run Pretty Little Treasures Designer Recycle Boutique in Bentleigh, also admitted keeping items she had taken on consignment and not refunding their owners.
She was also found with small quantities of the drugs ice, ecstasy and cannabis.
Payne was given a two-year community corrections order.
BEEF THIEF’S CHOP STEAL
A shoplifter who nicked nearly $500 worth of premium meat and cheeses before trying to leg it out of a Southland supermarket said she stole the food as she was lacking vitamins in her diet.
Rachel Ann Kain filled a trolley with prepacked produce such as chops and steaks and walked straight out of Coles, but she had been seen by a loss prevention officer and was quickly nabbed.
She told police she took the grub because she had a vitamin deficiency and couldn’t afford to buy food as she had been off work for a year.
The goods, worth a total of $493, were returned to the store.
She was given a six-month community corrections order with mental health and drug treatment conditions.
FACEBOOK FAIL
A serial offender who tried to impress his Facebook friends with a selfie wearing pilfered police gear had his boasting backfire badly when cops saw his posts.
Thomas Patchett posted pics of himself on his own social media page wearing the nicked ballistics vest, gun holster and baseball cap.
The 27-year-old from Sandringham, who has a 24-page rap sheet, was high on ice when he bought the nicked items from a bloke in Springvale.
The equipment had been stolen from a police car in December 2017.
He told officers he thought it would be “impressive” to buy the police gear and show his mates online.
He was fined $2000.
COMEDY CRIMINAL CAPERS
A bungling burglar ended up in hospital after being restrained by a building site owner during one of his many failed robberies.
Nick Koutrouvelis broke into a Bentleigh building site, but unluckily for him the owner lived nearby and heard the commotion.
The 32-year-old tried to punch his way to freedom but the site owner knocked him down and subdued him, with the calamity-ridden criminal needing to spend four days in hospital with a fractured eye socket, busted nose and bruised ribs.
In other burglaries he was caught by police hiding in a shower, in another he fell over while being chased by officers and on a third occasion he pretended he was urinating to try and explain why he was at the scene of a crime.
He was given a two-year community corrections order with unpaid work and drug counselling.
THIRSTY THIEF
An ice-affected burglar was tracked by police after he left his DNA smeared all over a coke can at the scene of a crime.
Jack Braydon Cowperthwaite was high when he broke into the Frankston construction site and stole power tools, a wheelbarrow and a vacuum cleaner, but forgot to take his beverage with him.
When police officers went to investigate it was a simple matter of matching the 24-year-old’s DNA from the discarded drink to samples of his they had on his very extensive file.
Officers tried to find him but he was unable to be located until they accidentally came across him at Frankston’s infamous Ambassador complex months later.
Cowperthwaite was jailed for 75 days, minus 42 days he had already served.
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