A Napier man with a "chequered history" was sentenced to five months' home detention yesterday after pleading guilty to stealing thousands of dollars' worth of orchard equipment off his boss. Mark David Croton, 49, pleaded guilty to one charge of burglary after stealing more than $12,000 of equipment from a shed in a Clive orchard where he was pruning trees in August 2015. After putting the items in his vehicle he returned to work for 30 minutes before leaving the orchard with the items and not returning. Croton admitted to the theft and said he was hooked on methamphetamine and had received a text message from an unknown associate stating he had to pay his drug debt that day. Judge Geoff Rea said Croton must pay reparation costs totalling $720 by the end of the year, and warned him that any further dishonesty offences could land him in prison.

Source: New Zealand Herald February 21, 2017 19:30 UTC