A 23-year-old man pleaded guilty to a raft of vehicle-related charges in Masterton District Court on Monday, including stealing a van.
Trent David Purvis, 23, also pleaded guilty to unlawfully interfering with motor vehicles and theft.
The theft charge related to petrol Purvis stole from Masterton BP.
According to police,on April 20 Purvis went to BP and filled his friend's car with about $86 worth of petrol and attempted to pay for it with his friend's Eftpos card. When it was declined, he said he would return later to pay for the petrol but never did.
On July 4, Purvis got into a Toyota Hiace van parked in Cole St. The keys had been left in the ignition. He drove to an address in Totara St and unloaded tools from the van, before parking it four streets away.
On July 5, just after 1.30am, Purvis went to an address in Totara St and entered an open shed. While in the shed, he entered an unlocked vehicle and began searching its contents.
During the search, a dog at the address began barking and woke the victim, who saw Purvis in his driveway. The victim called the police, who arrested Purvis.
Defence lawyer Ian Hard said Purvis was now operating a possum-trapping business and had been successful in trapping about 600 since his last appearance. Judge Tom Broadmore convicted Purvis and remanded him on bail, to reappear on September 2 for sentencing.
