By CAM LUCADOU-WELLS
Jockey pleads guilty to 16 charges including drug and unlicensed driving …
AN ice-using jockey has ridden the low-security ‘payWave’ technology to make a string of purchases with stolen credit cards.
A court was told on Monday that James Ronald Dentith, 41, of Cranbourne, and a female co-accused went on a spending-spree using credit cards they stole from a car parked at a Moordialloc hotel on 16 December,
Using the ‘tap-and-go’ mechanism, the pair racked up nearly $500 of purchases in several hours – including petrol, groceries, perfume and alcohol – before two attempted transactions were declined.
On 12 December, the pair used another stolen credit card to buy more than $100 of petrol, alcohol and groceries in Endeavour Hills, Hallam and Hampton Park.
Police prosecutor Leading Senior Constable Tracey Arnold told Dandenong Magistrates’ Court that Dentith was also a passenger in a stolen car driven by the co-accused on 18 December, and he was pulled over driving a car with stolen number plates in Hampton Park on 6 January.
Dentith, who had been in remand for the past 26 days, was scheduled to re-apply for bail on Monday.
At the hearing, he opted to plead guilty to all 16 charges including several drug, driving unlicensed and traffic offences arising from last year.
Police found Dentith in possession of the drug ice and a drug cutting agent last year. He told police he used illicit drugs to help keep his weight down as a jockey, Leading Sen Const Arnold said.
Dentith’s lawyer told court her client had been using ‘ice’ as a substitute for his prescribed medication.
The lawyer said Dentith’s partner-in-crime had confessed to be “the brains” behind the credit-card operation; Dentith, a non-drinker, benefitted little from the alcohol and cosmetics purchases.
He was driving unlicensed during a time when he was homeless and kept his belongings in his car, his lawyer told court.
Magistrate Jack Vandersteen, who had refused Dentith bail last month, said the accused’s chronic bipolar condition was compounded by drug use.
The offences mirrored 130 charges faced by the accused in 1998, including theft, burglary and property-by-deception, he said.
The court had been told Dentith’s criminal history in the 1990s was linked to a heroin addiction, which had been since successfully treated.
“Now I’m sentencing for another 16 (offences),” Mr Vandersteen said.
“The question is whether 26 days (served in remand) is enough.”
The magistrate said Dentith’s health had visibly deteriorated in custody, and extending his jail time would not help address his “underlying issues“.
Mr Vandersteen placed Dentith on a community-corrections order including drug-abuse and mental health treatment, and disqualified him from driving for 12 months.
A Racing Victoria spokeswoman said stewards were awaiting a full report on Dentith’s court appearance before deciding upon his status as a registered stablehand.
In March, Racing Victoria stewards banned Dentith for three months from riding trackwork for testing positive to a banned substance at Cranbourne Training Centre.
The racing authority stated at the time that stewards took into account Dentith’s “clean record in this area” as well as “the high level of the banned substances detected”.
After his suspension, he was registered as a stablehand ahead of the 2014-’15 racing season upon passing a drug-free urine sample. He was not permitted to ride horses at training.
