An Oamaru man and a Waimate man organised a scam to get money and a mobile phone through a hoax drug deal, then called police, reporting allegedly suspicious behaviour by the victim of the crime, the Oamaru District Court heard yesterday.
Corey Reopo Douglas (25), of Oamaru, and William Thomas Milmine (26), of Waimate, appeared before Judge Joanna Maze, jointly charged with obtaining $1500 cash and a Samsung Galaxy S5 phone and accessories by deception and making a false statement to police, resulting in the wasteful deployment of officers.
They both pleaded guilty to the offences and were each sentenced to 75 hours' community work and ordered to pay $1250 reparation to the victim, a 29-year-old Irish man.
At 12.14pm on September 2, 2014, Douglas received a text message inquiring about travelling to Christchurch to get cannabis.
The text was from a 29-year-old Irishman who was working in New Zealand.
The caller said he was looking to buy five ounces of cannabis, but would be able to buy eight ounces if he could sell his brand new Samsung Galaxy S5 and accessories, valued about $1000.
Police prosecutor Sergeant Chris George said Douglas then began texting Milmine and they arranged a scam to get the Irish man's money and phone with a hoax drug deal.
On September 3, the victim picked up Douglas from Oamaru and they travelled to Temuka. Milmine followed in a vehicle and called and texted Douglas, pretending to be the drug contact in Temuka.
When they arrived in Temuka, Douglas asked the victim to park in the Subway car park, in King St.
The victim gave Douglas $1500 cash, the Samsung Galaxy S5 and accessories, assuming that Douglas was going to meet the cannabis dealer. Douglas walked off and met Milmine, who was waiting nearby.
About 11.52am, Douglas phoned 111 and told police communications a person was acting suspiciously at the Temuka Subway car park.
Milmine could be heard in the background adding some details. Douglas described the victim and indicated he was going to do ''something bad''.
He spoke to the police communicator for more than six minutes and hung up when he knew that police were on their way.
Temuka police went to the Subway car park and detained the man, until it became clear he was the victim of a hoax.
When spoken to by police, both Douglas and Milmine declined to make a statement.
Milmine's counsel Ngaire Alexander said the scam and drug deal hoax was Douglas' idea.
Milmine did not receive the cellphone, nor any of the cash, but he was still willing to pay a half share of reparation to the victim, Ms Alexander said.
Douglas had a more extensive criminal history than Milmine, but his defence counsel, David Jackson, asked Judge Maze that he be given the same sentence as his co-accused.
Judge Maze described their offending as ''predatory'' and said she did not accept that Milmine acted as the ''lesser of two offenders''.
