Another member of a massive organised gang of burglars and thieves has pleaded guilty, admitting 51 charges at the Christchurch District Court.
Sharn Robert Noble, 21, is facing a long jail term after admitting 26 burglaries and participation in “an organised criminal group” for which police laid 110 charges.
Three of those who took part were sentenced last year, and two are pleading not guilty and their trials are still to be held.
No total of losses was given to Judge Stephen O’Driscoll when Noble pleaded guilty today, but police had earlier said that the total figure could be $250,000.
Investigators had the task of analysing 30,000 lines of phone text data as they unravelled the records of the group’s activities.
Today, Noble admitted 26 charges of burglary, five charges of theft, participating in an organised criminal group, 12 charges of dishonestly using documents such as bank cards and cheques taken in the burglaries and thefts, theft of cars, receiving stolen property, possession of methamphetamine, unlawfully getting into a car, and breach of earlier prison release conditions.
Judge O’Driscoll remanded him in custody for sentencing on June 19. He has already been in custody for 18 months awaiting trial, and has arranged to do courses in prison including a drug and alcohol rehabilitation programme and a Tikanga Maori programme.
Judge O’Driscoll called for a pre-sentence report ahead of the sentencing, and at the request of defence counsel Rachel Wood he also asked for an alcohol and drug assessment.
Last July, Alexander James McCormick, 27, was jailed for five years for 11 burglaries, three thefts, three frauds, and theft of a car. Elise Van Dam, 27, was jailed for four years four months, for 10 burglaries and being a member of an organised criminal group. She had been the look-out while burglaries were carried out. Mere Aroha Morgan, 26, was sentenced to nine months’ home detention at a property in Woolston, on four charges of burglary, two thefts of cars, and being a member of an organised criminal group.
Police said the group had targeted houses across Christchurch, as well as Prebbleton and Kaiapoi. It raided mostly modern homes or ones in rural areas.
“Residential burglary is a significant problem in Canterbury. The metropolitan area of Christchurch experience about 100 house burglaries each week,” they said.
Over a two-year period, there had been a noticeable rise in high end burglaries, with property taken ranging between $5000 and $20,000.
“Professional individuals and groups form complex networks of burglary and receiving rings. This has created a lucrative black market for stolen goods. Only a very small proportion of goods are recovered by police.
“Items such as laptop computers, tablets, cellphones, cameras, and gaming machines are targets for burglars. Secondary targets are personal items such as family jewellery, clothing, alcohol, and mementoes.”
The police said they targeted professional burglars with their Canterbury District Volume Crime Squad. The unit responded to the problem with its Operation Korora investigation.
The burglary group rented a motel unit in Ferry Road where police found two of the participants on July 10, 2017. They found a lot of the stolen property there. More stolen goods were found at other properties.
Noble was caught a week later at his property in Waratah Street. He was found hiding underneath the floorboards in a wardrobe. Stolen property from burglaries was found at his address.
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