Prolific Auckland shoplifter Travis Archer fails in appeal against three-year prison sentence

A thief who stole from dozens of shops, netting more than $37,000 worth of goods, said he gets a kick of out shoplifting, which he considers to be “like a job”.

Travis Archer had been out of prison eight days after serving time for dishonesty-type offences when was back to old habits - targeting 26 Auckland retail stores, including Smith and Caughey’s.

Now the 30-year-old is back behind bars, after being sentenced in April to three years in prison relating to 40 charges of theft and burglary.

Travis Archer had already been trespassed from Smith and Caughey's, so was charged with burglary for shoplifting from that store. Photo / Michael Craig

The charges were the result of two crime sprees - the first between May and August 2023 and the second in February. He didn’t steal anything between those months as he was in prison.

Archer has since appealed his three-year sentence, calling it “manifestly excessive”.

Back to bad habits

Archer has amassed more than 70 convictions for various offences, including dishonesty crimes, since 2013.

He was released from jail on May 3 last year and was on parole at the time of the offending.

Court documents reveal he stole on 26 separate occasions between May 11 and August 20 last year, taking mainly alcohol, food and tools.

Each occasion led to a separate charge of theft, including five instances where the value of the stolen goods exceeded $1000.

In July last year, he entered Smith and Caughey’s department store twice, taking items valued at about $400 and $900. He was charged with burglary for each of those occasions as he had previously been trespassed from the store.

He also failed to report to his probation officer multiple times and was charged with breaching parole conditions.

Archer was charged with intentional damage after spray-painting the wall of a liquor store on August 3.

On August 21, he was arrested and remanded in custody.

Another spree

On February 1 this year, he was released from prison on bail for 24 hours on compassionate grounds. He absconded and went on another stealing spree.

He stole perfumes worth $460 from another store from which he had earlier been trespassed, leading to a further charge of burglary.

He committed another 11 shoplifting offences within eight days in February, stealing food, tools and a mobile phone.

He was rearrested and pleaded guilty to 37 theft charges in total, the three burglaries and intentional damage.

Archer was usually identified by CCTV cameras in the stores. He shoplifted in daylight and made no effort to disguise his identity.

‘It’s like a job’

In sentencing Archer, District Court Judge Gus Andrée Wiltens said he was not prepared to give any discount for remorse.

He noted something Archer told a pre-sentence report writer about his thieving: “It gives me a kick and they say love what you do. It’s like a job”.

Archer admitted he had said that, but argued his words had been taken out of context in the report, to his detriment.

Archer appealed his three-year sentence to the High Court, arguing an appropriate end sentence would have been two years and four months in prison.

High Court Justice Tracey Walker turned down the appeal, saying the three-year jail term was not manifestly excessive.

She also said that the “comparative scale and relentlessness” of Archer’s offending was relevant.

Justice Walker said the total value of the items stolen in 2023 was $20,560, and the 2024 offending came to $17,056.

She noted Archer’s crimes were probably driven by untreated drug and alcohol addiction, in turn linked to his untreated ADHD.

“Unless there is therapeutic intervention, I fear that Mr Archer is trapped in an offending cycle,” she said.

Ric Stevens spent many years working for the former New Zealand Press Association news agency, including as a political reporter at Parliament, before holding senior positions at various daily newspapers. He joined NZME's Open Justice team in 2022 and is based in Hawke's Bay. His writing in the crime and justice sphere is informed by four years of front-line experience as a probation officer.