Thief caught red-handed with stolen mobiles
A Dublin man was caught red-handed in the middle of the night on his way to the bus station off Eyre Square with €3,000 worth of mobile phones, which had been stolen during Race Week last year.
Cosmin Stroescu (33), Flat 7, 112 North Circular Road, Dublin 7, had come to Galway during Race Week with others who stole the phones from unsuspecting revellers. His role was to bring the stolen phones back to Dublin.
He appeared before Galway District Court where he pleaded guilty to four counts of handling mobile phones, knowing they were stolen, at Eyre Square in the early hours of August 5, 2018.
He had initially been charged with six counts of handling six phones, but two of the charges were withdrawn following his plea of guilty to the remaining four charges.
Detective Sergeant Fergus Gaughan gave evidence he had been made aware of a spate of phone thefts across the city earlier that night and while on patrol in Eyre Square at around 4am his attention was drawn to Stroescu, who was acting suspiciously while making his way towards the bus station.
The accused, he said, had his phone in his hand looking at directions to the bus station.
Det Gaughan said he was acting very suspiciously and he asked him if he had any stolen property on him.
He then found six mobile phones in Stroescu’s inside pocket.
All of the phones had been turned off, restored to factory settings and had the SIM cards removed.
People had reported the phones stolen earlier and all were returned to their rightful owners.
Stroescu was arrested and brought to the Garda Station where he made full admissions to handling the stolen phones.
“He was part of a joint enterprise. His role was to hold the phones after the thefts and that is why he is charged solely with handling the stolen goods. The total value of the phones was in or around €3,000,” Det Gaughan said.
The phones were returned to the owners undamaged apart from the data being wiped, he added.
Defence solicitor, Martina Moran, said Stroescu worked in construction in Dublin and at the time felt pressured by others to get involved in the enterprise.
Judge John Cheatle said Stroescu was entitled to credit for the guilty plea and for co-operating with the Garda investigation.
The owners, he said, had all been traced but the sheer amount of charges and the value of the phones was of concern.
He sentenced Stroescu to six months in prison on one of the four handling charges, and suspended the sentence for twelve months, while taking the remaining charges into account.