![Thief 'must change' his ways and stop stealing others' property or face jail time Thief 'must change' his ways and stop stealing others' property or face jail time](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/zTpV5j6X6iLmSh5SbcmSaP/088de557-e585-4560-8997-f3b0bbea2f47.jpg/r0_0_1260_708_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
A West Wodonga man who stole a washing machine and couch from the Harvey Norman store's loading dock in East Albury is on the cusp of full-time jail.
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Christopher William Coley avoided such a punishment this time, but was warned this week he wouldn't if he committed another act of dishonesty.
He later returned the goods to Harvey Norman, but these were so badly damaged that repairs could not be carried out under warranty.
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"Does he need to go to jail to deter him from taking other people's belongings?" Albury Local Court magistrate Sally McLaughlin asked defence lawyer Amanda Meagher, who agreed Coley was "certainly on the edge of that".
Ms McLaughlin placed Coley on an 18-month community corrections order, with 300 hours of unpaid work.
"If you do not complete the community service work I will re-sentence you and I will send you to jail."
Coley, 40, pleaded guilty to entering a building with the intention of committing an indictable offence, larceny and using a vehicle with unauthorised number plates attached, as the trailer he attached to his partner's Victorian-registered car had a NSW number plate.
For that he was fined $620.
He arrived at the loading dock, with his partner, on April 24, 2022, about 10.30pm, entering through an automatic gate left open.
They searched the area then left.
Coley returned about 12.30am and loaded the LG washing machine and the three-seater recliner onto his trailer.
He later returned the goods, but had smashed the washing machine's glass door, cut the power cord, had ripped a panel off the front and left "numerous" scratches, while the couch's fabric was torn.
It could not be sold.
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