A theft victim tracked down his stolen goods online, organised to meet with the seller and have police attend, a court has heard.
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Bradley Keirl, 25, applied for bail at the Ballarat Magistrates' Court on Monday after being arrested for handling the stolen goods.
Police prosecutor Senior Constable Steve Repac said power tools, a generator and other items were stolen from a Smythes Creek property on Friday.
The court heard Keirl allegedly advertised the stolen items on Facebook Marketplace on Saturday and the victim arranged to meet him to purchase the items.
Senior Constable Repac said the victim called police and Keirl was arrested for handling stolen goods.
Police allegedly also found the car parked outside Keirl's property had been stolen two days earlier but painted a different colour and a black spray can was found inside Keirl's house.
Keirl is also charged with petrol theft and breaching a community corrections order.
The court heard Keirl told police he did not steal the items but was selling them for a friend and said he knew the car had been stolen but did not steal it.
Defence lawyer Scott Belcher said there was a lack of evidence in relation to the stolen motor vehicle and there was a risk Keirl could spend more time on remand than any sentence if he was not released on bail.
He said Keirl was a relatively young offender who had stopped taking medication for his mental health issues and had returned to ice use.
Magistrate Letizia Torres said Keirl had outstanding charges of burglary and theft from 2018 and attempted burglary in December 2019.
"This is serious offending particularly in light of the fact the accused man has similar prior convictions," she said.
Ms Torres said the police case was strong and she took into account Keirl was on a community corrections order at the time of the alleged offending and had breached two previous orders.
He was refused bail.
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