A Wagga man has been jailed after he tried to pawn off a stolen generator to finance his drug habit.
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Robert Lachlan Wickey, 36, fronted Wagga Local Court for sentencing this week after pleading guilty to two counts of larceny, possessing house-breaking implements, and four counts of possessing prohibited drugs.
Documents tendered to the court revealed Wickey was captured on CCTV with his two co-offenders stealing a Yamaha-branded generator worth $2199 from Anaconda in May.
Store staff contacted police immediately, who then caught Wickey trying to sell the generator for $400 at the Cashies pawn shop on Edward Street later that day.
Then, in September, police approached Wickey while they were doing patrols in Kooringal, noticing he was wearing a mask to cover his mouth and nose.
Police searched his backpack and found an assortment of tools including spanners, shifters, screwdrivers, levers, torches, allen keys, and a multi-tool.
They also found 0.16 grams of ice, 0.66 grams of marijuana, 2.73 grams of Seroquel, and 0.87 grams of dexamphetamine on him.
In court, defence solicitor Daniel Maxton tried to argue for Wickey to serve his sentence in the community by way of an intensive correction order.
“I think this falls far short of any sort of sophisticated criminal activity,” Mr Maxton said.
“There doesn’t appear to be any sort of intensive correction order on Mr Wickey’s record, and I would infer from that that he has never been provided the opportunity to engage with one.”
Magistrate Christopher Halburd, however, did not agree, citing his lengthy criminal record for similar matters of dishonesty.
“It’s not a $2 packet of Smarties we’re talking about here, it’s a product worth in excess of $2000,” Mr Halburd said.
“In my view, the community needs to be protected from you, and the only appropriate sentence is full-time custody.”
Wickey was on bail when he arrived at the court, but was escorted out by correctional officers after the magistrate handed down his one-year jail term.
He was given a non-parole period of seven months and fined $400 for the four counts of drug possession.
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