A NARINGAL East man who flatly denied stealing goods valued at thousands of dollars from a friend has now pleaded guilty to the offending.
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Thomas Savage, 24, of the Cobden-Warrnambool Road, appeared in the Warrnambool Magistrates Court for a contest mention hearing this week charged with burglary and theft.
Despite being given a sentence indication and told he would be jailed if he pleaded guilty, Savage admitted his offending.
The case has been adjourned until a consolidated plea hearing on February 27 which will include a new charge of breaching community corrections orders.
Magistrate Ron Saines said only a term of imprisonment was appropriate considering Savage had 12 pages of prior court appearances.
Police said that overnight on August 8 last year Savage and a co-offender Jake Crawley went to a property at Ecklin South.
They entered a shed and carried off tools, car parts and a range of other items.
The men were seen with the goods and Crawley has already pleaded guilty to the offending and been dealt with in court.
The victim went to Crawley's Camperdown home a couple of days later where he found his goods and took them back.
It's alleged that Mr Savage threatened one witness.
A woman said she saw the men with the goods and they wanted to sell them to get drug money for "shard" (ice) and "weed" (cannabis).
Solicitor Xavier Farrelly asked for a sentencing indication for his client, which was reluctantly provided by the magistrate.
The solicitor said Mr Savage was currently on two corrections orders and they had been completed before their end dates, but the new offending would breach the orders.