THE fifth and final member of a crew of armed robbers and thieves who terrorised businesses across the Hunter during a three-day crime spree in early 2022 has pleaded guilty in Newcastle Local Court.
Trae Reid, 21, was the member of a gang of young men who attempted to hold up service stations and pubs and stabbed a supermarket owner in the stomach during an armed robbery before they became the target of Robbery and Serious Crime Squad detectives who formed Strike Force Conge.
The ringleader of the violent crew, Aaron Creighton, as well as Blake Stanton, Victor Russell and Murrinjii Griffiths have all pleaded guilty and will be sentenced in Newcastle District Court later in the year.
Reid was the last to admit his role in the spree when he pleaded guilty last week to two counts of armed robbery, robbery in company and a spate of aggravated break and enters.
It was early on January 17 when four of the young men pulled up outside the BP service station at Bennetts Green in a stolen car.
Reid convinced the console operator to let him in, but then stood in the doorway while the rest of the crew stormed in and began making threats.
The console operator fled out the back into a locked room and triggered the alarm and the men fled empty handed.
The next night, during the space of about an hour, the group broke into the Anna Bay Hot Bread Shop, two service stations at Salt Ash and the Jesmond post office before they held up a cleaner as he arrived for work at the Blackbutt Hotel at 4am.
The cleaner got out of his car and was confronted by three men, one armed with a knife, who took his wallet, phone and watch and then marched him inside where they tried unsuccessfully to open the cash registers and ATM.
It was the next morning that Creighton, Reid and Griffiths held up the Spar Express supermarket at Morpeth.
Creighton was armed with a knife and jumped across the counter, pointing the knife at the owner's stomach and demanding money.
They took the cash drawers, but then Creighton barked "where is the rest of the money?"
When the owner replied "that's all I got", Creighton punched him twice in the face and stabbed him in the stomach. The men were arrested in February after a police pursuit at Maryland.
