Serial car-yard burglar jailed
A man from Huntly who targeted car dealerships in the Waikato after he was released from prison has been jailed for four years and five months.
Ethan Cory Douglas Pevreal-Lilley’s crime spree caused about $500,000 in losses to businesses and he doesn’t have to pay any of it back.
The 31-year-old targeted the Hamilton companies, often more than once, and stole not only vehicles but clothing, tools and keys, reports the NZ Herald.
A burglary of Turners overnight on November 5-6, 2022, cost the company more than $300,000 and caused the business in Te Rapa Road to shut up shop after he stole keys to all vehicles on-site.
Pevreal-Lilley jimmied a window of the office and turned off the power, which disabled the CCTV and alarms before taking the keys to all 165 vehicles on the yard, a court has heard.
He returned and stole a $26,000 Mercedes-Benz. He went back a third time with associates to take two more cars – a Volkswagen Polo and a Holden – Hamilton District Court was told.
The vehicles were found days later in Huntly. The Holden was burnt out, the VW had panel damage and the Mercedes-Benz was undamaged. The biggest cost was the $300,000 it cost Turners to get new keys, locks and to replace ignitions.
Pevreal-Lilley’s spree began early on October 30 at Fairview Motors, which was targeted multiple times. He opened unlocked cars before stealing a $10,000 Nissan Cefiro.
Returning later that night, he dragged a $12,500 trailer into the middle of the compound, drove a $35,000 Nissan Skyline onto it and used a $12,000 Ford Courier to tow it.
Winger Subaru was hit on November 5. Pevreal-Lilley stole a backpack from one unlocked vehicle before getting into the cab of a ute, but he failed to hot wire it.
He fled on foot and ended up at Prestige Collision where he walked into the office and stole a hoodie, keys to a Mercedes-Benz and a jump-start pack.
Six days later at Eco Insulation, he took a bag of tools from an unlocked work van. Half an hour later he was at Strata Precision Plastics where he failed to hot wire a ute, reports the Herald.
In the early hours of November 12, he was back at Winger Subaru with an associate and stole tools from a van and other items before then targeting Prestige Collision again.
Pevreal-Lilley appeared in court for sentencing on 12 charges – nine were for burglary, two for possession of instruments to use in a burglary and unlawfully getting into a vehicle – after accepting a sentence indication in November.
His counsel, Wayne Dollimore, said the offending began after his client lost his job “and had all this free time with the wrong associates”. Reparation was “unrealistic”, he added.
Judge Saunders said the offending was pre-meditated and the scale of loss exceeded $485,000, reports the Herald.
“The point is, you’re educated, smart and you were working, and to some extent perhaps that shows why your dishonest offending was of the nature it is, which is targeting car dealers,” she told Pevreal-Lilley before jailing him.
