Brendan Patrick Schnack pleads guilty to fraud, enter premises offences

A young Bundaberg father has been slammed for “preying on the vulnerable in the community” after stealing from an op shop twice. See what a magistrate had to say to him.

A court has heard how a father preyed on the vulnerable, stealing from a Lifeline op shop twice and taking money for a hearing aid that he never delivered.

Brendan Patrick Schnack, 25, appeared in Bundaberg Magistrates Court on Monday where he pleaded guilty to one count of enter premises and commit indictable offence, one count of enter premises and commit indictable offence by break, one count of failing to appear in court, one count of fraud and two breaches of bail.

The court was told that on April 4, 2022, Schnack entered the Princess St Lifeline store, where he stole items including a water filter, swimming goggles, jewellery, a manicure set, novelty Guzman y Gomez socks and a Hinkler souvenir set.

When police found Schnack, he was hiding behind a car with a torch in his hand and a backpack filled with stolen goods.

The defendant told officers he had worked out a way to get around the op shop’s security system and had rode there on a bicycle from his parents’ home.

Schnack apologised at the time, but on July 6, he was captured on CCTV breaking in to the same Lifeline store, where he took a Honda whipper snipper and some clothing.

When police caught up with the defendant, he told them he didn’t think they wanted the items.

In between those two offences, Schnack kept offending in other ways.

On May 13, he failed to appear in court, and on July 1, he placed a Facebook Marketplace ad where he told a man he’d sell him a hearing aid for $50, only the buyer never received his item, and Schnack denied ever receiving the money.

Brendan Patrick Schnack pleaded guilty to a number of offences in Bundaberg Magistrates Court.

Police found that the defendant had received the funds from the buyer.

The court was told Schnack breached his bail conditions on two occasions, once by not attending the police station and the other by ignoring a curfew because he “wanted to get out of the house”.

Defence lawyer Rian Dwyer told the court Schnack had not committed any act of violence in the charges he faced, and said the items taken from Lifeline were of little value and were mostly able to be returned.

But Magistrate Edwina Rowan said it should be argued why Schnack should not receive actual jail time.

“Mr Dwyer, he is preying on vulnerable members of the community,” she said.

It was heard the father of one had worked for two years in house restoration, before receiving a disability pension due to a breakdown caused by drug-induced psychosis.

The court was told that he was not currently using drugs and had the support of his mother and step-father, who were present in court.

Schnack had also entered early guilty pleas.

During sentencing, the defendant could be seen shaking his head as the details of his offending were read out.

The Lifeline store on Princess St that Brendan Patrick Schnack broke into not once, but twice.

“You have been preying on vulnerable businesses who look after vulnerable people - you might well have been one of those given I hear that you're on a disability pension and that you otherwise do not work,” Ms Rowan said.

“Not only once, but twice did you attend this victim business and steal from them.

“Your actions were deceptive, they were sneaky and they were dishonest.”

Ms Rowan ran through Schnack‘s history of crimes of dishonesty, including stealing, fraud and burglary.

“On each and every occasion, you have avoided an actual term of imprisonment,” she said.

“It seems that so far, nothing has worked to deter you from this kind of sneaky and deceptive behaviour.

“You are 25 years of age, so you're very quickly losing the benefit of being a young man appearing before the court.

“You are very fortunate that you come to court today with the support of your mother. I wonder what she thinks about your deceptive behaviour and your blatant disregard for the orders that have previously been imposed on you.”

Magistrate Edwina Rowan strongly condemned Schnack’s actions.

Ms Rowan condemned the defendant’s acts of targeting a charity.

“I'm told you’re not a wealthy member of the community, which just makes this so much worse - preying on other vulnerable businesses who look after vulnerable people,” she said.

Schnack was sentenced to 100 hours of unpaid community service for the first instance of breaking in to Lifeline, and for the offence of failing to appear, he was convicted and fined $150, referred to SPER.

For the Facebook fraud offence, Schnack was sentenced to one month prison, to be served concurrently with his other sentence, and ordered to pay $50 restitution to his victim, referred to SPER.

For the second Lifeline offence, Schnack was sentenced to two months’ prison, to be served concurrently.

For each bail breach, he was fined $100, referred to SPER, with convictions recorded.

Schnack’s prison terms were wholly suspended.

Originally published as Brendan Patrick Schnack pleads guilty to fraud, enter premises offences