Troy Macgrotty: Thief faces court after stealing police tracking device in car ransacking

An unlucky thief led police straight to him after he ransacked a cop car in Werribee and stole a tracking device.

An unlucky thief led the cops straight to him when he stole a police contractor’s security pass, which had a tracking device attached to it, after he ransacked a car in the western suburbs.

Troy Macgrotty, 34, faced the Werribee Magistrates Court by video link from Port Phillip Prison on Tuesday where he pleaded guilty to a string of drug and property charges dating from December 2020 and April 2021.

Macgrotty’s petty crime spree came to an end when he broke into the car parked in the driveway of a Victoria Police contractor at an address in Werribee.

He pinched his victim’s wallet, cards, Oakley sunglasses, power tools and, fatefully, a contractor’s pass with a tracking device attached to it.

Troy Macgrotty was arrested after stealing a police contractor's building pass, which had a tracking device attached to it.

Ten days later, it led the victim and police to an address in Hoppers Crossing, where they found a haul of stolen property and small quantities of drugs, and arrested Macgrotty.

Defence lawyer Jarrod Behan said his client was “two weeks drug free” when he was released from prison, and ended up living in an Airbnb in Werribee, with a group of recently-released former inmates.

During a raid on that property, Macgrotty was found sitting on a couch with a bum bag packed with meth, Xanax and ecstasy, among other drugs.

“The (later) theft was really opportunistic and what he describes as out of desperation to get some drugs,” Mr Behan said.

He said Macgrotty should be supervised when he is released from prison next time, since letting him walk free from prison without help “obviously didn’t work”.

Magistrate Kimberley Swadesir will sentence Macgrotty at a later date.