The victim of a bike theft has foiled a burglar's plan to sell the stolen item on Gumtree by responding to the online ad and trapping the offender.
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As part of a 2022 crime spree, James Edward Barnes also stole a church donation box and cut out a McDonald's front counter cash drawer that ended up being empty.
The 27-year-old has pleaded guilty to dozens of charges, many of which will now be dealt with in the ACT Supreme Court.
They included multiple counts of burglary and obtaining property by deception, with further charges against the man recently withdrawn.
According to documents tendered to the court, Barnes took a Merida One-Twenty 400 mountain bike from an apartment building's secure storage cage on May 27, 2022.
The bike's retail price is about $2000.
After speaking with police, the victim searched online marketplace website Gumtree and immediately found an advertisement matching his stolen bike.
The victim's wife contacted the ad's creator, who listed his name as "James", and arranged to meet in Dickson on the same day.
Barnes arrived while riding the stolen property and the group engaged in conversation before the victim confirmed the bike was indeed his.
He confronted Barnes and said the bike had been stolen from his home earlier that day.
The offender denied the allegation and claimed he purchased the bike in order to fix it up and sell it.
The victim's friend, who attended the meeting in support, placed the bike in his car boot and began filming Barnes, who was informed police were on their way and that he should stay and wait for them.
Barnes walked away after he said words to the effect of: "I'm not waiting around for that shit."
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The offender had sold another stolen mountain bike for $1000 through Gumtree a month prior.
Barnes faced the ACT Magistrates Court last week, when the majority of his numerous charges were committed for assessment in the higher court's drug and alcohol sentencing list next month.
Some of those charges relate to the May 2022 burglary of the Blackfriars Holy Rosary Parish Church in Watson.
A priest reported the burglary, with stolen items including a donation box containing an unknown sum of money, "three distinctive gold-plated chalices" and a set of keys.
Police found one door with a clear footprint and signs a jemmy tool had been used to open it, draws that appeared to have been rummaged through left open, and broken glass and damage to another door frame.
Blood found on one of the church's filing cabinets matched Barnes' DNA.
The man also pleaded guilty to a string of other burglary charges, which included cutting out an empty cash drawer from the front counter of McDonald's Canberra Centre in June of last year.
Related incidents also included Barnes attempting to forcibly enter a tattoo removalist and a medical centre, stealing a safe and two electric bicycles, and breaking into a nail salon and Gungahlin's Grease Monkey.
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Tim Piccione
Tim is a journalist with the Canberra Times covering the ACT courts. He came to the nation's capital via the Daily Advertiser in Wagga. Contact: tim.piccione@canberratimes.com.au.
Tim is a journalist with the Canberra Times covering the ACT courts. He came to the nation's capital via the Daily Advertiser in Wagga. Contact: tim.piccione@canberratimes.com.au.
