Thieving addict off to prison
A HEROIN addict stole a $10,000 cigarette machine from a popular Geelong cafe at the height of a six-month crime spree.
Corio’s Benjamin Jeisman, 36, was yesterday sentenced in Geelong Magistrates’ Court to 13 months’ prison for more than a dozen burglaries and thefts committed last year.
Among his crimes, he stole a spa bath, charity donation tins and, while working as a cleaner at a fertiliser company, broke into lockers and stole money.
In one incident on August 15, the father of two used a stolen key to break into a room at the Birchip Hotel.
While residents were asleep inside, Jeisman helped himself to soft drinks before fleeing.
Four days earlier, Jeisman and a co-offender used a jemmy bar to break into the Wharf Shed Cafe on Geelong’s waterfront. They carried away a cigarette machine, containing dozens of cigarette packets and more than $100 in cash.
It was later recovered in parkland in Corio after police arrested Jeisman at his home on August 31.
But less than a week later, and while on bail, Jeisman continued his crime spree, breaking into a home in Drumcondra with a co-accused.
The pair stole $7000 worth of items including a signed Collingwood AFL jumper and Ricky Ponting cricket bat.
Three days later, Jeisman ransacked a home in Colac, stealing PlayStation games and $400 in cash.
Police managed to link him to the burglary after traces of his skin and hair were left at the scene.
Defence lawyer Adrian Paull said Jeisman was “effectively institutionalised”, was made a ward of the state at 12 and left school after Year 7.