Cody Langridge pleads guilty to theft and speeding charges

A Norlane thief stole more than $30,000 worth of paint from stores in Geelong West.

Cody Langridge: Picture: Facebook

A Norlane thief stole more than $30,000 worth of paint from stores across Geelong West, a court has heard.

In a separate incident, Cody Langridge evaded police at speeds of up to 169km/h on hour after taking off at a fast food outlet drive-through.

The 25-year-old pleaded guilty in the Geelong Magistrates Court on Monday to a number of charges, including theft, burglary, obtaining property by deception and driving at dangerous speeds.

Langridge and an unknown co-accused broke into a paint store in Geelong West on March 28 this year about 1.55am and stole $20,000 worth of paint, before leaving the scene in a Holden Commodore.

A few days later, just before 3am on April 1, the pair broke into the Dulux Trade Centre in Geelong West and stole $3000 of paint before leaving in the same car.

Hours later, they broke into Wattyl Paint Centre, also in Geelong West, and stole $7600 of paint.

In a separate incident, on November 4, last year, Langridge was spotted driving an unregistered vehicle with false registration plates.

Police tried to intercept Langridge while he was at Hungry Jacks, but he took off and narrowly missed hitting another vehicle.

The court heard Langridge led police on a high speed pursuit, travelling at speeds of up to 169km/h on the Princes Highway while swerving between three lanes.

Langridge eventually stopped in Georgia Grove, Corio and a police search of his car

uncovered a hunting knife and a machete.

Langridge also pleaded guilty to stealing about $5000 worth of power tools from a car in Herne Hill, about $4000 of power tools from Fyansford that he sold to a pawn shop for $500 and $259 of groceries from a supermarket.

Magistrate John Bentley said Langridge needed to grow up and said he was driving like a “complete idiot”.

Langridge will be sentenced in court on Friday.

Originally published as Cody Langridge pleads guilty to theft and speeding charges