Out of jail ... and working to get back

Brendan Moon did not last one day out of prison before he started a new offending spree that is likely to earn him more years behind bars.

Moon, 20, from Tauranga, was released from Hawkes Bay regional prison at 7am on August 31.

By about 9pm - having deliberately missed a bus back to Tauranga - he had broken into a car yard.

The Tauranga District Court was also told that Moon's offending escalated to dealing P.

Moon admitted charges of burglary, unlawfully taking a motor vehicle, driving while disqualified (third or subsequent offence) and supplying methamphetamine.

He was remanded in custody for sentencing on December 14. The methamphetamine supply charge has a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

The court was told that after he was released from prison, Moon was dropped off at a bus stop in Hastings by prison staff.

He had a ticket to Tauranga, but did not catch the bus, instead going to Napier.

After stealing a set of keys from the Global Finance car yard, he stole a car and drove about 30km to a small lay-by on State Highway 5.

He tried to remove the stereo system speakers and other items from the vehicle but was unsuccessful so he left the car and made his way to Taupo.

On September 30, he caught a bus back to Tauranga.

When police asked Moon why his fingerprints were in the stolen vehicle, he claimed he went for a ride in it, after an associate stopped to pick him up.

Police inquiries also established that between September 20 and 30, Moon had sent text messages to people offering to sell them dollar and half-dollar bags of methamphetamine.

"Dollar" is a s slang term for $100 worth of drugs.

Moon has an extensive criminal history, which includes several convictions for theft, unlawfully taking vehicles and burglary.

He was charged with arson and unlawfully taking a motor vehicle after a truck was found ablaze with its engine running on the grounds of a childcare centre in Moffat Rd, Bethlehem at 2am on March 11, 2007.

Firefighters were unable to save the truck or its expensive load of new kitchen units.

Moon denied taking and torching the truck. While on bail awaiting trial, he was caught driving while disqualified after he stole his aunt's car in Napier and drove to Tauranga with 438g of stolen cannabis.

He was jailed for 16 months in July last year, and had an extra six months added to his sentence in November after he changed his plea and admitted unlawfully taking the truck.

Moon was, however, discharged without conviction on the arson charge after Judge Thomas Ingram found the Crown had not presented conclusive evidence that he was responsible.

When Judge Ingram sentenced Moon in November, he warned him that if he came back before the courts on anything similar, he would have no hesitation in referring him to the High Court for a possible sentence of preventive detention.