Jarrod David Griffin, 30, appeared via audio-visual link in the ACT Magistrates Court on Monday and has not pleaded to that charge in addition to breaching a good behaviour order.

A prosecution document states that on April 16, police were called to Christina Stead Street in Franklin in response to three people sighted allegedly going through vehicles.

Police later found Griffin at a nearby shopping centre carpark and during a search, they found a small pry bar and a multitool they allege were his.

Griffin was wearing black gloves and a tactical-style vest at the time.

Police arrested him before he told them during an interview that he was passing through Gungahlin because he had friends and family in the area.

He said the tools could be used for other reasons, such as survival and hunting purposes, and that the vest was for posture and he needed gloves to keep warm.

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In court, his lawyer said there was nothing to suggest that Griffin was one of the people who entered a car.

The defence lawyer said the claim that the gloves were needed to keep his hands warm was "not out of the realm of possibilities during that time of day and time of year".

Prosecutor Hannah Lee said their case was "by no means impossibly weak" and that the defendant's criminal history was "overwhelming".

She said he was currently serving a suspended sentence for dishonesty offences and that it had been only two months after being released that he has been charged again.

Magistrate James Stewart refused bail, citing Griffin's "20-odd pages of dishonesty offences" and saying Griffin's previous punishment included a jail sentence in 2020 for a raft of offences.

"I myself last year sentenced him to a lengthy sentence of imprisonment, which was partially suspended," he said.

"I can't fathom why anyone with that history would be out with a pry bar in public if it's not to commit a theft."

"Given that significant history of offending, the fact he's on a suspended sentence, no bail condition's going to stop him from re-offending." The case returns in May.

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