Jeremy Rae
FORMER Warrnambool businessman Jeremy Rae has had his case involving 62 counts of theft-related charges and about $80,000 adjourned until mid July.
Mr Rae, 39, who is now living in Western Australia, was interviewed by appointment at the Warrnambool police station on November 25 last year.
He was interviewed, charged and bailed on his own undertaking to appear this week.
Yesterday Mr Rae appeared in a Western Australian police station while the case was called at Warrnambool Magistrates Court.
Defence counsel Tony Robinson said it had been a long and drawn out police investigation, the full brief of evidence was only received last Friday and his client would now have to consider his position.
He said it was a complex matter and his client would need four to six weeks to think about his options. It was also understood a large number of charges could be withdrawn and Mr Rae is likely to face charges relating to $43,680.
Magistrate Jonathan Klestadt said that if the matter was not resolved before the next court date it would have to be put off until August.
He instead decided to adjourn the case until a contest mention hearing on July 17.
The magistrate warned that if Mr Rae maintained a stance of denying all the charges, then the case may have to be heard in the county court where higher penalties could be imposed.
He said the availability of a discount for a guilty plea may be decisive in regard to which court heard the case.
Detective Senior Constable Damian Coutts, of the Warrnambool police criminal investigation unit, previously confirmed that charges had been laid.
Police will allege that offending occurred between 2004 and early 2010, when Mr Rae ran the Warrnambool Good Guys store.
It is understood Mr Rae has sought legal advice and basically made a no-comment interview with police.
Detective Senior Constable Coutts has been undertaking investigations for the past 15 months into allegations raised by the management of the Good Guys chain through an audit process.
Mr Rae is understood to maintain he is innocent in relation to the allegations.
