A man has pleaded guilty to the theft of eight cars and a number of burglaries, including one at a dead man's home.
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Christopher Forster, 26, was arrested after a stretch of offending in September 2020, found camping next to a stolen car in Eldorado, near Wangaratta, with the car stuck in a rocky area.
Police found him with co-accused Shannon Jeffrey and in possession of a backpack with a large quantity of ammunition used for high powered rifles.
Forster has been in custody since, a total of almost five months, and his lawyer submitted he should be released on a community corrections order and sentenced to time already served.
Police lawyer Paul Thomas told the Ballarat Magistrates' Court on Tuesday the offending began in April 2020 when Forster threw a rock through the window of the Telstra Business Centre in Ballarat, climbed through and stole hard drives, a phone and router.
The main stretch of offending began on September 8 when an 82-year-old farmer parked his car with the keys in the ignition at one his farm's paddocks, walked 100 metres to check the water pump and turned around to find his car stolen.
In the same month Forster also broke into a cricket shed and a community hall to steal alcohol, drove while disqualified and committed a number of petrol drive-offs.
He was linked to a burglary at a Middle Creek property which was owned by a deceased man and stole a car from the garage.
On September 24, a Rav4 was stolen from a Bungaree home while the victim was asleep and she woke up to see her car being driven out of the driveway.
A woman's $60,000 Mercedes was stolen from her Avoca driveway, where she parked it, left the keys in the car and went into the house, on October 5.
Police later saw Forster standing outside the car but he got in and reversed toward the police car behind and sped away.
Forster was later seen in a stolen Mitsubishi Outlander travelling with the stolen Mercedes but the cars sped away from police at more than 120km/h in a 60km/h zone.
CCTV footage at service stations where Forster was captured committing petrol drive-offs were key police evidence linking Forster to the thefts and burglaries.
A shop owner in Wangaratta called police after Forster stole $500 worth of pots, pans and knives on October 9 and drove away in the stolen Mercedes.
The court heard members of the public helped provide information to locate Forster and he was arrested later that day.
Defence lawyer Heidi Keighran said Forster was heavily drug affected at the time, had separated from his partner of five years, was homeless and associated with negative peers.
She said Forster believed he was a product of his upbringing as he was exposed to drug use as a child and started using drugs at 14.
Ms Keighran asked Magistrate Noreen Toohey to consider allowing Forster to complete a community corrections order and sentencing him to 151 days time served.
Mr Thomas said the charges were serious and the offending had affected multiple people.
Forster will return to court for sentencing in April.
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