Donation boxes targeted by repeat thief
An offender who repeatedly steals charity donation boxes, tip jars, and cash from tills, has been sentenced to four months home detention and 150 hours community work in the Christchurch District Court.
Jason Peter Rochford, 29, had a “dreadful list” of previous convictions, with over 60 convictions for shoplifting, theft, burglary, and dishonest and fraudulent offending said Judge Richard Russell in an AVL link from the Nelson Court.
He said he was sentencing Rochford on seven charges from Dunedin and Nelson over a six month period.
They included refusing a blood specimen, disorderly behavior, theft of a St John’s donation box, theft of a radar detector after breaking a window on a car, possession of cannabis and theft of two cash boxes he grabbed from a security car boot.
Defence counsel Craig Stevenson said Rochford wanted to engage in rehabilitation treatment for his drug addiction, and had family in Christchurch to support him.
Judge Russell said Rochford’s pre-sentence report said he had an extensive criminal history, and was a high risk of offending again without rehabilitation.
The report said he manipulated previous rehabilitation programmes that were put in place for him.
He told Rochford that he needed to get on top of his drug issue, and he needed to be in a residential programme or his cycle of re-offending would continue.
He sentenced Rochford to four months home detention, and said if he didn’t comply with the sentence he would be serving prison time.
He added 150 hours community work, and reparation of $650 to the sentence, and disqualified him from driving for eight months.
Rochford was sentenced to prison for nine months in 2007 for stealing charity donation tins, prompting another judge to liken him to “pond scum”.
He had previously told a judge that his thefts of donation boxes were “about as low as you can go”, when he was sentenced for taking the donation boxes from the Earthquake Recovery Appeal, and the Returned Services Association in Christchurch in 2012.
In 2013 he was sentenced for taking a St John charity box, and a Variety children’s charity box, and a tip jar from two restaurants in Nelson.
Category: News
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