A man who committed theft and fraud offences across Bournemouth and Poole has been jailed for a total of 24 months.
Caleb Ollie Johnson, 21 and of Bindon Close in Poole, was sentenced at Bournemouth Crown Court on Thursday 24 September 2020 after pleading guilty to seven counts of theft, attempted theft and fraud by false representation. He was also sentenced for breach of a suspended prison sentence.
The first theft offence occurred on Wednesday 12 February 2020 when Johnson entered HM Samuel at the Dolphin Centre in Poole and stole a necklace worth £499.
Four theft offences and one fraud by false representation offence occurred between Monday 13 April and Friday 17 April 2020 and related to Johnson transferring or attempting to transfer quantities of cash from the bank account of a vulnerable victim he knew to his own on four occasions. The total transferred was £800.
Other offences involved the theft of a £2,000 electric pedal cycle from outside an address in Poole on the morning of Tuesday 16 June 2020 and theft of beer from a One Stop store in Poole on Saturday 4 July 2020.
The attempted theft offence happened at 2.18am on Thursday 13 August 2020 when officers were called to reports of a person on the roof of the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum on East Cliff in Bournemouth. When they arrived they discovered that a large amount of lead had been stripped from the roof.
Johnson was arrested nearby and later charged.
Detective Constable Christian Bryant, of Dorset Police’s Priority Crime Team, said: “Caleb Johnson was responsible for committing a series of offences over a six-month period. I hope the sentence handed out by the court will send out a strong message that we will investigate these crimes and do all we can to bring offenders to justice.”
Clearly the sentence is far too lenient and no deterrent to other would be criminals.