Man in court following billboard campaign

The Hobson St billboard was one of a number to go up. Photo / Brett Phibbs

A man has appeared in court in connection with the theft of $5000 of electrical transformers in Auckland which sparked a citywide billboard campaign.

Police arrested 24 year-old Peter Samuel Dickey on Sunday night. He appeared in the Auckland District Court yesterday morning charged with stealing transformers worth $5000 from OTW Advertising. Dickey was remanded on bail until his next court appearance next month.

Photos of him allegedly stealing 15 transformers from a billboard in Karangahape Rd in October were placed on a number of billboards around the city by OTW Advertising under the heading "who is this thief".

The billboard offered a $500 reward.

Mark Venter, of Parnell-based OTW Advertising, said he was pleased with the arrest. He had earlier promised to put a billboard up with the words "nabbed" or "gotcha". Mr Venter said that wouldn't happen but a billboard would go up announcing the arrest and thanking members of the public who phoned in and police who tracked the suspect down.

Mr Venter said the $500 reward would be paid out to an informant but he wasn't sure if it had happened yet.