Michael Craig Pollack in court for armed robbery, fraud, dangerous driving

A dad who helped rob a teenager at gunpoint and bashed an old man also nearly ran over four police officers while trying to escape in a stolen car.

Michael Craig Pollack, 36, pleaded guilty to more than 40 charges when he faced Hervey Bay District Court this week, including armed robbery, fraud, unlawful use of a vehicle, serious assault and dangerous driving.

A father involved in a violent armed robbery later drove his car dangerously, narrowly missing four police officers.

Michael Craig Pollack, 36, pleaded guilty to more than 40 charges when he faced Hervey Bay District Court this week, including armed robbery, fraud, unlawful use of a vehicle, serious assault and dangerous driving.

He had also pleaded guilty to numerous counts of driving while unlicensed.

The court heard much of the offending was committed while Pollack was on bail and also after a warrant had been issued for his arrest.

The armed robbery, the most serious offence, happened on January 20, 2024, while he was on bail, it heard.

A 19-year-old man had been riding an electric scooter on a sidewalk in Maryborough in the early hours of the morning when Pollack swerved in front of him in a white Honda.

When the teen pulled his scooter into a parking bay, three other men got out of the car, one armed with a baseball bat and another with a gun.

The unarmed man tried to take the teen’s scooter.

When he resisted, the man with the baseball bat started hitting him in the shoulders, biceps and elbow.

The man with the gun pointed it at him and asked if he wanted to die.

The teen let go of the scooter and Pollack told the others to take the teen’s wallet.

They began grabbing his bag. His phone fell out and that was also stolen.

When he started approaching the vehicle, the man with the baseball bat reached into a bag and got out a hatchet.

The teen backed away before the vehicle drove off. He was left with bruising and swelling to both arms.

Michael Craig Pollack, 36, pleaded guilty to more than 40 charges when he faced Hervey Bay District Court this week, including armed robbery, fraud, unlawful use of a vehicle, serious assault and dangerous driving.

Police later recovered a replica revolver, a black machete and an axe.

A search of a Urangan property also recovered the victim’s phone, ammunition and tablets.

Judge Jennifer Rosengren said Pollack was to be sentenced for the armed robbery on the basis that he was the driver.

She said she had read the teen’s victim impact statement, which spoke of him barely being able to leave his home after what had happened and he was horrified and traumatised by the thought of going out at night.

In regard to the serious assault, the victim was an 83-year-old man who was at his granddaughter’s house.

While he was there, he had an argument with his granddaughter and another man grabbed him by the throat and punched him in the chest, causing him to fall against a door and cut his arm.

The court was told Pollack joined in the attack on the old man, punching him in the face before taking his phone at the alleged co-offender’s request.

In a separate incident on February 12, 2024, Pollack had been found by police behind the wheel of a stolen vehicle.

The ignition was on and when police asked him to open the door, Pollack refused.

The police ended up using a batten to smash the driver’s side window, the court was told.

As that was done, Pollack accelerated rapidly and narrowly missed four police officers and a police vehicle before driving dangerously through the car park and onto Boat Harbour Drive.

Judge Rosengren said she didn’t know if Pollack had reached the point where he wanted to break the cycle, and to break his drug habit, if he didn’t want to spend the rest of his life in jail.

The court heard Pollack had a difficult upbringing and had lost his mum when he was 14.

He had started using drugs around that time.

Pollack had a daughter when he was 16 and she had died a month later, and the child’s mother died when she was 28, the court heard.

He also had a 10-year-old son.

Pollack had worked as a labourer and in customer services.

There had been an eight-year period when he had worked for an amusement company, the court heard.

He had returned to heroin use after the death of his daughter’s mother.

Pollack had a good relationship with his father and his siblings, and had used drugs in a misguided way to cope with the trauma he had experienced.

He was given a head sentence of four years in prison, to be served cumulatively on the sentence he was already serving and taking into account the time he had already spent in custody.

He was disqualified from driving for a year for the dangerous driving charge and one month for each of the unlicensed driving charges.

A parole eligibility date was set for February 21, 2026.

Originally published as Michael Craig Pollack in court for armed robbery, fraud, dangerous driving