A thief who targeted Stirling cafes, pubs and restaurants to steal people’s mobile phones was this week jailed for four and a half months.
Gheorghe Ion had admitted six charges of stealing mobile phones at a variety of locations – all in November last year – while on bail on other matters.
The premises were Napers Salon in Bannockburn; The Book Nook in Stirling’s Upper Craigs; Unorthodox Roasters in Friars Street; the Golden Lion in King Street; the Crossed Peels in Spittal Street, and Monterey Jacks in Corn Exchange Road.
All the phones were recovered with the exception of one.
Ion (25) had also pleaded guilty to the attempted theft of a phone at Carlton Bingo in Allan Park.
Fiscal depute Amy Sneddon told Stirling Sheriff Court on Wednesday that a member of staff at Napers Salon in Quakerfield had been working at 10.30am on November 5 last year when Ion entered the premises while she was behind the counter.
He asked the witness for a pen. She turned round to get one and handed it to him.
However, the member of staff noticed her phone was missing.
Enquiries were carried out and the accused was found to be responsible, said Ms Sneddon.
Click here for more news and sport from the Stirling area.
The phone, which had not been recovered, was worth £1000.
The theft at the Book Nook took place on the same date at 11.20am where two witnesses were studying.
Ms Sneddon said they saw a male enter the premises and approach their table. He was carrying a newspaper and placed it over one of the witness’s mobile phones. He picked up the newspaper and left the premises.
The fiscal depute added: “An employee who saw the interaction approached the witnesses to check if she still had her mobile and she confirmed it was in fact missing. The employee left the locus, traced the accused outside and challenged him and he handed back the mobile phone.”
Ion entered Unorthodox Roasters around 11am that day and sat at the same table as a witness, asking her for a pen. He placed a newspaper over her phone and left. She noticed that her phone was missing as well as a bank card which was within the same case as her phone.
Further mobile thefts - and the attempted theft at Carlton Bingo a few days later, November 12.
The Bingo incident took place at 6.45pm. A witness had been there with friends when Ion and co-accused Danit Frant appeared at their table. Ion placed a piece of paper over a phone and asked for a pen.
However, Ms Sneddon said a witness recognised Ion was trying to take the phone and grabbed it from the table, putting it in her pocket. Staff were notified and police contacted.
The fiscal depute also said that two witnesses had been in Monterey Jacks in Corn Exchange Road that evening at 7pm when the accused and co-accused approached their table. Ion placed a leaflet on top of one of the witness’s phones. Shortly thereafter staff approached the accused and asked him to leave. When the witness noticed her phone had been stolen she contacted police.
Ion also approached a table at the Golden Lion restaurant at 7.15pm that evening and placed a piece of paper over a man’s mobile phone, pointing at the paper, before taking it and leaving the locus. The witness noticed his phone was missing and the police were contacted.
A few minutes later Ion and the co-accused approached a table at the Crossed Peels and placed a polypocket over a man’s phone. Ion started speaking in an unfamiliar language and picked up the polypocket before he was asked to leave the table. Almost immediately, the man noticed his phone was missing, said the fiscal depute.
Members of his party tried to catch up with the two males. However, the witness’s grandfather said he had managed to snatch the phone before the accused left.
Ms Sneddon added: “CCTV was reviewed which showed both accused at the locus clearly scanning the premises before the phones had been taken.”
Ion’s agent told Sheriff Francis Gill that a report prepared for the court mentioned the accused’s marriage and children. Ion, who had been remanded in custody on May 11, had told him that he wished to obtain his freedom as early as possible.
The lawyer however he had advised Ion, via an interpreter, that the Sheriff’s hands were tied, which he had accepted.
Sheriff Gill described the crimes as serious and pointed to a record with similar convictions, adding that a custodial sentence was appropriate.
He sentenced Ion – of Paisley Road West, Glasgow – to four and a half months’ jail backdated to May 11 and reduced from six months due to an early guilty plea.
Co-accused 28-year-old Danit Frant - also of Paisley Road West, Glasgow – who appears on a number of charges on the complaint, did not appear for sentence and a warrant was granted for his arrest.
