Warrnambool man accused of racing club beer theft back in custody after ute theft

Maxwell Boucher, 34, pleaded guilty in Warrnambool Magistrates Court on Friday to theft of the motor vehicle and other offences.

On Tuesday he was jailed for one month.

He has already served five days in custody on remand.

Boucher will be released on a 12-month community correction order.

Under that order he must do 90 hours of unpaid community work.

The man plans to contest the charges relating to the alleged burglary at Warrnambool Racing Club.

He will appear in court at a later date.

Earlier, Friday, July 8: A Warrnambool man charged over an alleged beer heist at the city's racing club is back in custody for the second time this week after he stole a ute.

Maxwell Boucher, 34, appeared in Warrnambool Magistrates Court on Friday, just days after pleading guilty to possessing GHB while on bail for burglary and theft.

The man was arrested on May 20 and charged in relation to an alleged break-in at Warrnambool Racing Club, where 60 slabs worth about $3000 were stolen just days before the May Racing Carnival.

Boucher was bailed from the police station on that day with conditions, including he not consume or possess drugs.

He was then picked up by police on the weekend after a routine intercept in Warrnambool's Tozer Road uncovered a vial of the party drug GHB in his red Holden Commodore.

He pleaded guilty to possessing the drug and on Monday was convicted and fined $600.

The man remained on bail in relation to the alleged racing club break-in.

Then on Friday, he stole a 2010 Holden utility parked in the shed of a property on the Hopkins Highway at Purnim.

The car was unlocked and the keys left in the ignition.

Boucher drove out of the shed and through a locked steel gate, causing damage.

The victim observed his vehicle driving away and called 000 about 9am.

Boucher drove the stolen car south toward Warrnambool.

He soon arrived at Lutana Grove where he was followed by Warrnambool police highway patrol members.

He mounted a nature strip and drove into parkland where he abandoned the car and fled with the victim's wallet.

The man was arrested shortly after.

Boucher pleaded guilty to theft of the motor vehicle and other offences on Friday.

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Kerry Schroeder, of Victoria Legal Aid, said at the time of the offending Boucher may have been a victim to an unrelated crime.

Boucher remembered being in his driveway at dusk the night before and his next memory was being thrown from a car and ended up at an intersection in Purnim, she said.

He had scratches and scrapes to his body and attended hospital after his arrest.

Ms Schroeder said her client failed to flag down passing cars before observing the keys were left in the ignition of the utility.

She said Boucher didn't think anyone was around so took the car and headed back to Warrnambool.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Angela Fitzgerald said the man's story didn't make any sense.

She said the offending was an example of a "brazen" theft of a motor vehicle, which occurred while Boucher was on bail for burglary and just days after he was convicted of drug possession.

She submitted the only appropriate sentence was jail, to be followed by a therapeutic community correction order to target Boucher's drug issues.

The man will be assessed for an order and will appear in court again on Wednesday next week.

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