A 53-year-old Bridgetown man is due to appear in the Bridgetown Magistrates Court on April 23 on a further 206 charges, in addition to the 100 charges he already faced on March 19.
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It is alleged the majority of the offences occurred during 2012 and 2013 in the Bridgetown, Boyup Brook and Donnybrook Shires. Over the two year period the man entered rural, commercial and residential properties and premises, stealing power tools, hand tools, copper, aluminium, brass and other valuable scrap items.
It is further alleged that over the same period the man conducted 165 fraudulent transactions at a scrap metal dealer in Bunbury, trading as a business that he had no authority to act on behalf of.
The combined totals of the transactions amounted to 76,220kg of scrap metal, valued at $52,030.
“Bridgetown Police have continued investigations in relation to this person, and in doing so uncovered more fraudulent transaction history, which was able to be linked to stealing incidents over the same time period,” Bridgetown Sergeant Daniel Fenton said.
“The community of Bridgetown were encouraged by our initial charges, and as a result the outpouring of information and evidence has been immense, giving us further lines of inquiry.
“The scale of this investigation has been immense, at times involving all available staff at the station, but the appreciation shown by the community for our efforts has been greatly rewarding.
“The downward turn in our crime trends for the area is also very pleasing,” he said.
The man has been charged with 165 counts of fraud, 10 counts of burglary and 31 counts of stealing.
