Fraudster 'driven by drugs'

A prolific fraudster was driven by drugs.

A man described by police as a "prolific" fraudster who racked up more than $10,000 in dodgy hireage transactions, told officers his drug addiction drove him to do it.

Constable Mike Burne, who oversees Tamatea and the Onekawa and Pandora industrial areas, said he had dealt with the same man three times - on one occasion on his home patch where a paint sprayer had gone missing from an Onekawa business.

The other two incidents involved two separate Hawke's Bay businesses where the man had racked up about $12,000 of debt by charging tools and materials to the trade accounts of two local businesses.

"This is without their knowledge or authority," Mr Burne said.

He said it was lucky that at one builders merchant store the salesperson suspected the transaction was not quite right and contacted the manager.

He prevented the transaction taking place and a complaint was made.

His advice was simple.

"If you have someone come in and try to charge something to an account you don't know them to be linked to challenge them, and, if you are not satisfied, contact the account owner."

In the Onekawa incident, the man had gone to hire a paint sprayer and the terms of hireage were sorted out with the sprayer being available the next day.

"He returned and as ... the salesperson was momentarily distracted he took this window of opportunity to uplift the sprayer and leave the store."

The sprayer was not returned and a charge of theft was later laid. "He's made no secret that his offending is driven by his drug addiction," Mr Burne said.

The man had since appeared in the Napier Court and was currently on bail.

It was the second recidivist offender incident Mr Burne had recently dealt with. A woman previously known to police who had gone into a Pandora hardware store and put a set of spanners into her bag left without paying.

Security staff stopped her and she was dealt with in her hometown of Takapuna.