A man accused of about 20 offences, including stealing, making off without payment, obtaining goods by false pretenses and driving charges, has been given community service.
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Joel Andrew Peardon, 38 of West Launceston, pleaded guilty to a number of charges in the Launceston Magistrates Court earlier this month.
On Friday he was sentenced to 126 hours of community service, disqualified from driving for four months and must take part in educational and drug programs.
The offences saw Peardon commit crimes worth $22,202 in total, including making off without payment for accommodation.
He also pleaded guilty to drug offences after being found in the possession of Viagra.
Peardon was guilty of 10 counts of obtaining goods by false pretenses. In one case, Peardon had organised to buy a Samsung phone online, then screenshot the receipt to his victim as proof of payment, but cropped out the section which stated the payment had failed, before collecting the items and ceasing contact.
There were also four charges of make off without payment, two for stealing, two for driving without a licence, and one count of breaching bail.
At Friday's sentencing, Peardon also plead guilty to another count of obtaining goods by false pretenses, and not guilty to three counts of make off without payment. His lawyer said these charges were unrelated to Peardon's other ones.
Magistrate Ken Stanton said the persistent offending was simple, but blatantly dishonest. He said Peardon had been a "good character" up until illicit drugs became part of his life and "things spiraled out of control".
"That's not an uncommon thing in this court, tragically," he said.
Mr Stanton took into account the "emotional turmoil" Peardon was going through when his offending started, and his early guilty pleas.
He was convicted of each count he pleaded guilty for and sentenced to eight months imprisonment, backdated to October 10 when he was taken into custody.
The sentence was suspended for two years.
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