THEFT CHARGES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 13 May 1938, Page 2

THEFT CHARGES

NINE PERSONS INVOLVED, (By Telegraph—Press Association.) CHRISTCHURCH, May 12. Thefts involving goods to the value of £1164 were alleged to have been committed by eight men and one woman who appeared in the Magistrates’ Court today. The police claimed that the offences extended’over a period of three years. A ninth man was charged with having received the property alleged to have been stolen.

“These charges are the result of a system of wholesale thieving by eight men and one woman, all of whom were employees of large business firms,” said Detective-Sergt. Holmes. He added that the stolen property recovered exceeded three tons in weight. The persons involved in the thefts had been employed by firms for periods from five to twenty-four years, and all seemed to work to a common centre and there had been a common receiver.

Accused were dealt with separately, and the first was John Searle, aged 38, charged with the theft of goods Valued at £221 from John Burns and

Co. Detective Cunningham read a statement made by Searle admitting the thefts, and saying he delivered all the goods to a man named Lowther. Searle pleaded guilty and was committed to the Supreme Court for sentence.

Herbert Arthur Currie, aged 38,' was charged with the theft of goods valued at £77 from the Drapery and General Importing Company and of having received goods valued at £lO knowing them to have been stolen. Currie pleaded guilty and was committed for sentence.

The man against whom eight charges of receiving were preferred, Hugh Lowther, also pleaded guilty and was committed for sentence. One man was remanded until Monday and the case against the woman was adjourned until next Thursday.