Hastings burglar and stolen property receiver Reuben Joseph Cole has been remanded in custody for sentencing after a belated admission of charges relating to thefts of dozens of items from people's homes late last year.
Appearing before Judge Geoff Rea in Napier District Court on Tuesday, arrested on Monday after being wanted for three days after failing to appear in court last week, 44-year-old Cole pleading guilty to one charge of burglary and 12 of receiving stolen property connected to offences in the mainly Mayfair area last November and December.
The receiving charges had originally been alternatives to charges of burglary laid after items of mainly garden and other home property items were found at Cole's address in Conway St, Mayfair, after he was apprehended with a stolen trailer and items from a burglary late on the night of New Year's Day.
Police withdrew most of the burglary charges, but Cole went through sentence-indication proceedings before deciding how to plead.
It should have happened in court on Thursday but Cole did not attend and a warrant was issued for his arrest and enforced after he again failed to appear in court the next day.
Through new counsel on Tuesday he decided to accept the indication of a prison term of up to two years and five months, and pleaded guilty.
He's also admitted charges of possessing a pipe for the use of methamphetamine, cultivating cannabis and breaching bail and was remanded in custody for sentence on August 17.
Streets targeted in the burglaries in which the property was stolen were Eaton, Collinge, Caroline, Kennilworth and Warwick roads, Barden St and Fitzroy Ave.
The property found at his home included lawnmowers, umbrellas, porch and garden settings, garden ornaments, a hose reel and frozen food.