A man who had 11 opportunities at corrections has appeared in court for selling a mountain bike which had been stolen.
Aaron Couch, 30, of Norlane pleaded guilty in the Geelong Magistrates Court to handling stolen goods.
Police prosecutions said a burglary took place at an address on December 29, 2022 and Jan 8, 2023 where a victim’s mountain bikes had been stolen.
Prosecutions said the victim had informed police that a mountain bike had been stolen from his address and had seen it listed on Gumtree in Mt Duneed.
The court was told the victim sent his son to the address as a potential buyer to confirm if the bike that had been listed was their one that had been stolen from their home. After taking it for a quick test run, he confirmed it was theirs.
Police executed a search warrant at the address at Mt Duneed and interviewed a man in relation to the bike.
During an interview with police, the man said Couch had sold him the bike and purchased it for $1200 cash on January 6 and arranged to purchase the item through Facebook marketplace.
On Tuesday, January 10, the victim contacted police again regarding an advertisement on the Facebook marketplace listed by Couch, which depicted one of his stolen mountain bikes.
Police later executed a warrant at his address in Norlane and seized the bike. Couch made full admissions to the charge in an interview with police and said he purchased the item cheap knowing it was stolen.
Couch’s lawyer said her client was a vulnerable person who had multiple attempts at community corrections orders.
“He gets overwhelmed by the initiative that is required from him. He tries and fails and he is upfront about it”.
She said Couch was currently on a justice plan and was positively engaging with the program.
Magistrate Simon Guthrie said Couch has had 11 attempts at corrections, including dispositions but did not particularly do well on those. Couch was convicted and discharged and will be back in court on December 13.