General News
9 August, 2024
Police retrieve stolen vehicles
Police have cracked down on a series of thefts across the Central Goldfields, with authorities arresting two men and returning six stolen vehicles.
Between July 7 and July 22, the vehicles were stolen in numerous locations across Maryborough including Burke Street, Central Goldfields Shire Council premises in Nolan Street and a local taxi from an address in Avoca Crescent.
On July 16, police received public information about the stolen taxi spotted in Carisbrook. A cordon was placed around the town with the offenders dumping the car before fleeing on foot by jumping fences.
A male in his 30s was located on foot and arrested. He was charged with theft of a motor vehicle and bailed to appear at the Maryborough Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, September 26.
On July 22, the vehicle stolen in Burke Street was located in Dunolly where a man in his 20s was arrested after the car was dumped and the offender attempted to evade police.
He was charged with theft of a motor vehicle, burglary, and dangerous driving offences and remanded in custody to appear at Heidelberg Magistrates’ Court on Friday, August 23.
Following the thefts, investigators from the Goldfields Crime Investigation Unit (CIU) established the same offenders were responsible for the four vehicles taken from Nolan Street, which have since been recovered at various locations in the district.
A search warrant at a Maryborough address on July 24 located multiple power tools, equipment and the front wheel of a bike that had been stolen from a Burke Street address, with the full bike being recovered at an address in St Arnaud.
The bike, a Giant Defy Advanced One Road Bike worth around $5000 was donated to Maryborough resident Luke Baker to be used for his 26 day fundraising Pedalling For Hope ride from Albany, Western Australia to Bendigo.
Mr Baker said he was relieved to be reunited with the bike as he prepares for the 3249 kilometre fundraiser starting next Friday.
“I was over the moon when it had been found — I understand there’s a lot of things that go on in this world that take precedence over a stolen bike, but it’s what it all stands for and what the journey is,” he said.
“The bit that hurt the most was that the bike was donated to the cause.
“I’m really thankful for all the efforts of everyone at the Maryborough Police Station to recover the bike.
“To get the bike back is a huge relief and I’m just looking forward to raising as much money as I can to help Lifeline Loddon Mallee.”
Goldfields CIU Detective Senior Constable Danny Barker urged residents to remain vigilant while police do their best to retrieve stolen items.
“We are happy to get the bike back to Luke, in relation to the charity ride it means a lot to us and we are happy we can contribute somehow,” he said.
“We have been able to recover a lot of stolen property over the last month or so — a lot of it is opportunistic but we are finding tools are mainly being targeted,” he said.
“Our active investigations are always trying to retrieve the stolen items and bring those responsible to account by coordinating regular patrols of areas we’ve identified as hotspots.
“Information from the community helps us a lot, we rely on that heavily so if you see something that’s not right report it.”
To find out more about Pedalling for Hope, or to donate to the campaign which has raised nearly $6000, visit the fundraiser’s Facebook page.