A young Ballarat man has been sentenced to more than two-and-a-half years in prison over a crime spree which involved stealing six vehicles of which some were set on fire.
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Brody Harris, 22, pleaded guilty to 36 charges last month and was sentenced at the Ballarat Magistrates' Court via a video link on Wednesday.
His crimes, which spanned from October 2019 to June 2020, included six car thefts and one attempted car theft with some of those vehicles found smashed or destroyed by fire in the Ballarat area.
Harris, who was never charged over the car fires, was an unlicensed driver during all of the driving-related offending.
In October, Harris drove a stolen car from New South Wales to Ballarat and leaving it in the Sebastopol Coles car park.
Harris was linked to a car stolen from Mount Helen on November 7, 2019, that was later found destroyed by fire in Cambrian Hill 12 days later.
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He was seen driving a $120,000 black Range Rover and a grey Mazda that were both stolen on November 8, 2019.
Harris stole number plates, a car, two motorbikes and power tools from a Haddon property and was arrested on November 19 after fleeing from police in a stolen car from Lake Burrumbeet.
A magistrate bailed Harris on May 1, 2020, but he committed a further 23 offences across Ballarat before he was re-arrested 36 days later on June 5.
He ransacked unlocked cars in Gordon and on May 18, he was seen driving a Mazda stolen from Canadian using keys taken from inside the house.
On May 18, Harris sped away from police at more than 100km/h and through a 40kmh road work zone on Springs Road, Brown Hill.
He had three passengers in the vehicle and was charged with recklessly endangering serious injury.
Harris ransacked an unlocked car in Lucas on May 19, stealing the garage door remote from the car and committing a number of petrol drive-offs.
He was arrested while driving a stolen car on June 5 by a special operations crew in Thomastown.
Police found methamphetamine in his wallet, a number of items suspected to be proceeds of crime and a 0.22 calibre rifle with a round in the chamber next to the driver's seat.
Magistrate Ron Saines told Harris a number of features aggravated his offending, including being an unlicensed driver, committing more than 20 offences while on bail and driving the stolen cars following an aggravated burglary although he was not charged with the burglary.
He said Harris was not charged with car arson but he had played a role in dealing with the stolen vehicles that were destroyed.
"Your prior history includes court sentences for exactly the same offending," Mr Saines said.
He said he applied leniency because of Harris' guilty plea and young age which placed an emphasis on rehabilitation.
Harris was sentenced to two years and seven months' imprisonment with a non-parole period of one year and 10 months. He was disqualified from driving for two years.
Harris has served 489 days of his sentence through pre-sentence detention.
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