Former farmer Craig Stone avoids jail after targeting neighbours and friends in $250,000 Christmas crime spree

A former Pingaring farmer has avoided jail after admitting to stealing $250,000 worth of property from neighbours and friends during a four-day Christmas crime spree. Craig Stone, 45, was instead fined $2000 fine and give a one-year suspended prison sentence in Perth Magistrate’s Court on Monday, meaning he will not serve time unless he reoffends during the next 12 months. With his head bowed and sunglasses on, the former Pingaring farmer walked out of court then sprinted across Hay Street to avoid media questions. Earlier, the court was told Stone and a friend stole $250,000 worth of property in a four-day crime spree targeting Great Southern farms and businesses in December 2018. Stone was charged with 20 counts of stealing, burglary and trespass after his arrest in December 2018, while sleeping in a truck he allegedly stole. Some of the pair’s victims during the week-long crime spree included former neighbours at three farms in Pingaring, as well as properties in Wickepin, Newdegate, Kulin and Yealering. Stone — who now lives in Mandurah — and his friend Darren Riley, 51, stole tools, fuel, quad bikes and trucks from sheds, along with chainsaws, eskies, a car fridge, jewellery, and tyres from the farms between December 20 and 27, 2018. This included $28,000 worth of farm machinery, tyres, a trailer, pumps and tools from one Pingaring farm, and a prime mover and truck worth $90,000 from another property, which they loaded with stolen goods. At Newdegate, the pair were disturbed while committing a burglary and drove into fences and gates, causing $5000 worth of damage. They also looted the Pingaring Golf Club, stealing a lawnmower, quad bike, spray pack, weed cutter, esky, chest freezer, knife set, flat screen TV and an art sculpture. Many of the stolen items were stashed at Stone’s house in Herron, near Mandurah, and found after it was raided by police on December 27. During the raid, police also found 27 live rounds of ammunition in a firearms cabinet and nine types of live ammunition at the premises — resulting in two charges of failing to ensure safe keeping of ammunition. Magistrate Matthew Walton said Stone’s offending was serious and that while a term of imprisonment was “the only appropriate disposition” he was satisfied it should be suspended This was despite Stone already serving a separate suspended sentence for an August 2018 car theft. “Your record escalated dramatically in December 2018 and there has been no further offending, aside from one breach of bail,” Mr Walton said. In sentencing Stone, Mr Walton said he needed to take into account the sentence of his co-offender and that Stone had spent three months in custody before being granted bail. “He has conveyed remorse by pleading guilty ... and it appears that his association with the co-offender was significant in this co-offending,” Mr Walton said. “I took some people to my home town that I shouldn’t have trusted,” Stone said. “I have been a farmer most of my life and I don't want to have a brush with court again.” When asked if there was methamphetamine use involved at the time of the offences, Mr Stone said “no”. The court heard Stone was raised in the Wheatbelt, was married for 14 years and was amicable with his ex-wife.