Burglar stole TV then called taxi from flat
A thief stole a television from a flat in the Black Country – before using the home phone line to call a taxi to transport his loot to a pawnbrokers, a court heard.
Presbitero Alcobias and another man broke into the third floor flat in in Broome House, Charlemont Farm, West Bromwich, on October 1 last year and stole a 32ins television, among other goods.
The 21-year-old then used the landline to order a taxi, which took him to Cash Generators in Birmingham, where he sold the television for £65, using an account he had set up using a false identity.
Alcobias, of Rea Tower, Newtown, Birmingham, appeared at Wolverhampton Crown Court on Friday after admitting burglary, fraud by false representation and possession of an article for fraudulent activity.
He was jailed for two years and two months for the burglary and one month for the fraud.
Miss Madhu Rai, prosecuting, said: "When the victim returned home, her flat had been burgled.
"There had been forced entry to the property and the door frame was on the floor."
She told the court that a 32ins flat screen television, a laptop worth £850 and a Nintendo games console worth £49.99 had been stolen.
"There was also damage to the door which cost £300. The complainant's landline phone had been used to call a taxi so they could place the stolen items and be driven away.
"The taxi driver arrived and was flagged down by the defendant and told him he was going to get a television.
"The man he was with came out of the flat carrying the stolen television which had been wrapped up in a cloth."
The taxi driver took them to a Cash Generator store where he used fake ID to sell the television to the store for £65, she told the court.
She added: "The defendant had already opened the account at the store previously, on May 10, 2013, using a false identity." She said the man who's identity was stolen was later arrested and questioned over the theft, but CCTV from the store made it clear it was not him. Alcobias was arrested following an Express and Star appeal and after his picture was circulated on social media.
When he was arrested, police found a bus pass with the expiry date September 2013, which had been amended to September 2014. Mr Charanjit Jutla, for Alcobias, said his client accepted full responsibility for the offences. He said: "He is open enough to accept that he has a drug addiction, which relates to him abusing cannabis."
