Alfredton couple Steven Patterson and Mielika Leviston were left shattered on Thursday morning after a work ute was stolen from their home while they slept.
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Mr Patterson was woken up early in the morning by his phone buzzing with notifications for about $2000 worth of transactions made on the cards inside the wallet he had left in the ute.
When he went to the garage to check on his wallet, he found his silver Nissan Navara, printed with decals for his business, missing.
Mr Patterson said his first thought was his business partner was using the business' fuel card.
"I started flicking through my phone and noticed more transactions but on my personal card and started looking at the time on them and they started at 3.30am or 4am and then there was a break and they started again at 5.30am," he said.
"My first thought was that I'd lost my wallet. I normally leave it in the car anyway so I went out to the garage to check and noticed my car was missing.
"I thought 'how did they get in?' because we've got a shelf near our front door which we normally leave our keys on but they've obviously had to come in the door to get the keys.
"Roller-door keys apparently only have 15 frequencies and they either got lucky or the roller door was left open."
The offenders also went through Ms Leviston's car and ransacked it, but did not decide to take it.
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Adding to their pain, Mr Patterson said along with his wallet, there was about $8000 in tools for his landscaping business stored in the ute.
"It's hard because I'm sort of p***ed off and I've just spent $10,000 on the car because we're going on a trip to Perth at the end of the year for our honeymoon," he said.
"I've just set the ute up to tow a caravan for that and I'm not going to get the money back through insurance for that, that's the most frustrating part about it.
"Me and my business partner were sole traders and joined up at the start of the year so we've only been going for four months. The worst part is we were just starting to get going and then this happens and it's going to put us back three steps because no tools, no car. It's a real shame.
"Trying to run a business with my business partner and we've got an employee as well, now I have to deal with this headache."
Mr Patterson said he was concerned the offenders were able to come into the house where his fiancee and daughter were sleeping.
"I'm just thankful our daughter is at the other end of the house," he said.
"I don't think they were there to hurt anyone, they were there to steal the car but that's not the point, they still came into our house."
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