An Eltham man who stole frozen doughnuts and a boy’s bicycle was found hiding in his mum’s wardrobe when police went to arrest him.
Officers had to climb through a window and search for 15 minutes to locate Michael Noack at his family home, before he resisted arrest and screamed for the police to give him drinks and cigarettes.
The 25-year-old fronted Heidelberg Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, September 10, having spent 27 days behind bars.
The court heard Noack was caught on CCTV stealing $45 worth of frozen doughnuts from United Petrol Station Eltham’s locked icebox about 1am on February 1.
When police found him walking through Eltham carrying the trays of doughnuts about 4.30am he told police he didn’t know what was inside the box, which he’d just found in a vacant lot.
Noack had previously stolen $3000 worth of powertools when he broke into a locked toolbox on a ute parked at Eltham station on November 5.
When police went to his home to arrest him for the theft on June 30, Noack’s family refused to let them in.
The officers had to climb through a bedroom window and search for a quarter of an hour before finding Noack, who was resistant.
The court heard Noack also stole a 14-year-old boy’s bike from outside Woolworths Eltham on August 1 when the boy left it to go inside the store with friends.
He then stole another bike when he fled from police after they tried to arrest him at home on August 14.
While police stood at the front door he jumped the property’s back fence before he was found almost an hour later riding a bike he’d just stolen.
Noack pleaded guilty to the crimes as well as charges for driving while disqualified, breaching a community corrections order he was serving and matters which cannot be published.
Lawyer David Rofe said his client was an Indigenous man who’d dealt with a chaotic home life during his upbringing, and who suffered from drug addiction, depression and anxiety.
Magistrate Stephen Ballek sentenced Noack to the 28 days he had already served in jail and released him on an 18-month community corrections order.
Noack was ordered to pay $45 restitution for the stolen doughnuts.
Extracted from Herald Sun