A MAN who stole hundreds of keys - which belonged to businesses across the Central West - from a security company has been convicted and placed on an 18-month community corrections order.
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Jayden Douglas Wilson, 33, of Friendship Place, Orange, appeared before magistrate Catherine Follent in Bathurst Local Court charged with larceny and entering a vehicle without consent.
Police facts tendered to the court told how Wilson saw a car belonging to a security company as he left Lithgow Workies Club on April 17 last year after a drinking session there.
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He opened a rear door and stole hundreds of keys belonging to businesses in Bathurst, Portland, Oberon and Lithgow, including banks, hotels and small businesses, and also took five litres of oil from the rear of the vehicle, according to the police facts.
At 3am the following day, Lithgow police received an anonymous call saying a box of keys was lying on Tweed Road. Police attended and found the aluminium box and a large number of keys scattered nearby.
On September 30, Wilson admitted to police to stealing the keys, though he said he couldn't recall taking the oil. He said he was intoxicated at the time and couldn't give a reason for taking them.
The owner of the security company whose vehicle had the keys stolen told police that had the keys not been recovered, the cost to his business to replace all the keys and locks would have been $250,000.
Wilson's solicitor Mason Manwaring told the court his client entered a guilty plea at the first opportunity.
He said his client, a qualified welder, was a binge drinker but had abstained from alcohol since the offence.
He said the crime was opportunistic and his client had later rung police and admitted to what he'd done.
Ms Follent said the fact Wilson was intoxicated didn't make it any less serious and Wilson was responsible for how he behaved.
Wilson was placed on an 18-month community corrections order on the larceny matter and convicted and fined $200 for entering a vehicle without consent.
