Alleged gun thief arrested at hotel

A MAN who allegedly burgled homes across Geelong to steal guns is accused of switching between hotel rooms and Airbnbs to evade police.

Geelong man Conrad Barker, 29, was arrested in Melbourne about a month after he allegedly broke into homes in Highton and Newcomb to steal firearms with co-accused Mark Pollard, 30.

Neither man has entered an official plea but both flagged with the Geelong Magistrates Court that they intended to fight the charges.

A Highton man allegedly found Mr Pollard in his garage in July and saw him run to a car and get in with Mr Barker.

The homeowner found his ammunition safe had been stolen and attempts had been made to access a separate firearm safe.

The man checked his CCTV cameras and allegedly saw both accused leaving the garage with the safe about 3.30am. The footage allegedly showed them return two hours later before they fled when they were spotted

Eight days later, both men were allegedly caught on CCTV driving slowly past a Newcomb address on the same morning that two guns had been stolen from a stand-alone garage.

The court heard the resident of one of the addresses had his wallet stolen by a third man – allegedly connected to Mr Barker and Mr Pollard – the night before the alleged firearm theft.

When Mr Barker was arrested, police searched his hotel room and found he was in possession of stolen identification cards, a small amount of methamphetamine and two vials of steroids, it is alleged.

Mr Barker applied for bail on Friday, with his defence lawyer Nadia Giorgianni submitting that she “can’t spot” him on any CCTV footage.

Magistrate John Bentley adjourned the bail hearing.

Both Mr Barker and Mr Pollard will return to court at a later date.