COURT
A MAN who torched a van and stole more than $20,000 worth of goods from a Delacombe business has been jailed for 18 months.
After spending almost a year on the run, Jake Long was apprehended by police in July.
The 18-year-old will serve the sentence in a youth justice centre after appearing in the County Court in Ballarat yesterday.
Long had pleaded guilty to four charges in Ballarat Magistrates Court, but after a sentencing error the case was moved upstairs on appeal.
Crown prosecutor Wendy Duncan detailed Long’s offending, saying that in July this year he and another person went to an antenna business in Delacombe and used bolt cutters to cut padlocks on the fence before cutting power to the property.
After smashing a window to enter the building, they loaded up a van with tools including a rotary hammer drill and an angle grinder. In total, they stole goods worth about $20,000.
The pair then drove to a secluded street in Brown Hill, doused the van in accelerant and set it on fire. The vehicle was destroyed.
When arrested by police in July, Long said he was relieved not to be on the run from police any more.
Long pleaded guilty to charges of burglary, theft, arson and theft of a motor vehicle.
