A man found guilty of five counts of receiving stolen property was a riches to rags tale, his defence counsel Grant Tucker submitted in a sentencing hearing in the Supreme Court in Launceston.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Heath Maxwell Lethborg, 42, was found guilty by a Supreme Court jury of five counts and not guilty of three counts of receiving stolen property.
The court heard that associates with criminal records had delivered to his Killafaddy premises a Mitsubishi Canter truck, a Bobcat, two trailers, and specialised lighting when he was caught in possession by police on May 1, 2019.
IN OTHER NEWS:
Mr Tucker said Mr Lethborg had gone from running a family business, Lethborg's Smallgoods, with 80 employees to effectively having the bum out of his trousers.
"This trouble found him with people turning up at his yard storage area," he said.
He said Mr Lethborg had had a run of bad luck in recent times with the destruction by fire of a boat moored at the Seaport in Launceston.
"He was living on it and there was no insurance so there was a loss of $70-80,000," Mr Tucker said.
The jury heard that all eight items found by police in the raid were stolen.
Mr Tucker submitted that while Mr Lethborg may have had suspicions about several of the items he did not know that they were stolen.
Mr Tucker told Justice Robert Pearce that Mr Lethborg had proposed to the Crown before the trial that he plead guilty to four counts but it had been rejected.
The court heard evidence that Mr Lethborg had up to $132,000 in a bank account around the time of the raid.
"It's fair to say the money in the accounts has dwindled, it's long gone," he said.
Crown prosecutor Ian Arendt said that the jury had rejected Mr Lethborg's evidence that he had paid $28,000 for a stolen Bobcat from an unknown person at St Marys.
He said Mr Lethborg had a problem with illicit drugs but had no relevant prior convictions for dishonesty.
The jury heard that a criminal associate brought a stolen Mitsubishi Canter to the premises before the police raid.
The truck was found in the weeks after to have had its number plates replaced and the vehicle identification number (VIN) ground off.
Justice Robert Pearce described as amateurish the punching of a replacement VIN onto the truck.
"It could only have been done after it arrived at his place," he said.
Justice Pearce told Mr Lethborg that he would sentence him to a prison sentence but he would not have to serve actual time. He is having him assessed for community service.
Sentencing will be on April 13, at 4.15pm.