A York man who was found guilty of stealing truck trailers from around the state has been sentenced to nine years imprisonment, despite maintaining the offences were committed by an employee without his knowledge.
Darren Lex Evans was sentenced for 69 charges including 45 counts of receiving stolen property, 20 counts of property laundering, two counts of gaining benefit by fraud and one count of stealing.
Evans, 44, stood trial for the offences at the Perth District Court where we was found guilty of all charges by the jury.
During sentencing on Friday, June 14, Judge Amanda Burrows said Evans' offending took place over a four-year period between March 2010 and June 2014, with his activities uncovered by police during a search of his property in Inkpen.
She said Evans received 41 semi-trailers and dollies, which had been stolen while unattended throughout the state, including in Northam, Upper Swan, Wubin, Bellevue and Welshpool.
The trailers, worth more than $2.3 million, were connected to a prime mover and stored at Evans' property with the intent of removing the identifying features and selling them.
Evans also received four shipping containers, defence, mining and railway equipment and more than 100 bales of wool that were onboard the trailers.
The total of the stolen items onboard the trailers was estimated to be worth $210,000.
Upon receiving the trailers, Evans became registered as a trailer builder, where he repainted the semi-trailers and dollies under the Evan Brothers name.
He sold 20 of the trailers, with false history, to the value of more than $714,000.
Police traced the rebirthed stolen trailers and seized them from the new owners.
Additionally, Evans leased a semi-trailer from a rental company and falsely reported that the trailer had been stolen, and rebirthed it.
On two occasions Evans falsely reported that he owned two stolen vehicles and received an insurance payout of more than $145,000.
The judge said the total value of offending exceeded $3.4 million.
"The offending required a degree of sophistication," Judge Burrows said.
"Significant expense and loss has been incurred by a variety of people as a result of your actions.
"You continue to deny the offending behaviour. You continue to blame someone else for it.
"You have demonstrated no remorse whatsoever in relation to this matter.
"I need to impose a sentence which will deter you from ever committing offences such as these in the future and to send a clear message to the community that large-scale rebirthing operations such as this will not be tolerated in this state and that people who engage in such operations for commercial gain will be dealt with severely."
Evans was sentenced to nine years imprisonment and will be made eligible for parole.
