A 17-year-old from Lara has been bailed three times despite police charging him with 26 theft and drug-related offences.
Officers charged the teen with five motor vehicle-related offences last week after he “came to police attention again”, police said.
Police had already charged the youth with 21 offences after they arrested him last month for allegedly stealing valuables from a car in Newtown.
The 21 alleged offences included theft from a motor vehicle, 15 counts of obtaining property by deception, dealing suspected proceeds of crime, and possessing cannabis and ecstasy.
The youth was bailed despite the charges also including two counts of committing indictable offences while on bail.
Officers last week charged the same teen with five offences and he was again bailed to appear in court at later date, according to police.
The Lara youth was among 33 arrests that police made over two months for vehicle-related theft in Geelong.
Tasking and Crime Intervention Team (TACIT) detectives last month arrested a 26-year-old man from Glenfyne over the alleged theft of five different vehicles from locations including Geelong and Colac.
Detectives charged the man with 19 offences including theft from motor vehicle, handling stolen goods, dangerous driving while pursued by police, reckless conduct endangering serious injury, failing to stop on police request, unlicensed driving, failing to stop after an accident and possessing methyl amphetamine.
He has been remanded to appear in the Geelong Magistrates’ Court on June 16.
Police also arrested a 60-year-old Burnside man over the alleged theft of power tools and equipment from four cars in Hamlyn Heights, Fyansford and Lara.
Police charged him with offences including four counts of theft from a motor vehicle, four counts of criminal damage and four counts of obtaining property by deception.
The 33 arrests resulted from a “focussed” two-month investigation by Geelong police patrolling known crime hot spots, according to Detective Acting Sergeant Jason Tom.
The operation and arrests had contributed to a significant decrease in stolen cars and valuables in Geelong, he said.
Police “putting the clamps on car thieves” also prevented them from using stolen vehicles in future crimes such as burglaries and ram raids, Detective Sergeant Tom said.
He warned Geelong locals to keep their keys on them or out of sight to prevent “opportunistic” thefts.
“These types of offenders want to get in and out of the property as quickly as possible to avoid being caught or confronted.”
