Jail for Mallacoota looter who stole from homes in fire-affected town
Images from the Mallacoota bushfires over the New Years Eve period.Credit:The Age
A Mornington Peninsula man drove more than 500 kilometres to Mallacoota and looted houses in the East Gippsland coastal community devastated by bushfire.
The 36-year-old from Tyabb on the Mornington Peninsula pleaded guilty to charges including burglary, theft and dealing in property that was the proceeds of crime on Friday.
He was sentenced to a year in prison with a six-month non-parole period.
Mallacoota police arrested him last week, along with a woman he was with, after a local service station operator reported that a thief had driven off without paying for their petrol.
The petrol drive-off was shared by locals on Facebook before someone recognised the car, which was still in town, and reported the sighting to police.
The couple allegedly looted a number of houses, including one that had been destroyed by the recent fires and others that had been left empty, and stole tools.
The 36-year-old represented himself in Bairnsdale Magistrates Court on Friday and was sentenced via video-link to the Latrobe Valley Magistrates Court.
The woman who was also arrested was charged and bailed to face court at a later date.