A mother-of-three found with $320k worth of stolen Lego in her shed has begged to avoid jail for the sake of her children.
South Australian Police raided the Dudley Park home of Dai Truong on March 31 this year and unearthed an extraordinary haul of stolen Lego.
Such was the scale of the find, it took officers 15 pallets and two horse trailers to remove the haul from the property.
On Tuesday, 34-year-old Truong pleaded guilty at Port Adelaide Magistrates Court to four charges relating to the raid – including three counts of dealing with property without consent and one count of unlawful possession.
Her legal representative pleaded for her not to be jailed over the extraordinary haul of stolen goods.
The court was told the discovery was made after police carried out a search warrant of the property, finding boxes upon boxes of Lego concealed in a shed.
The case only revealed the origins of just a small portion of the staggering stash, with the court being told of three instances Truong had stolen boxes from the same store.
Prosecutors told of three occasions in which Truong attended the Kmart branch the Marion shopping centre, on September 11, September 15 and November 7 of last year.
On each of these occasions, she visited the pushing a pram, with a young child inside.
Truong was captured on CCTV loading boxes of Lego into the base of the pram, covering them with a blanket, and leaving the store without paying.
On September 11, she stole four boxes equating to $600 in value and just days later, she took four more boxes worth $300.
Then on November 7, she returned to the same store, where she helped herself to eight boxes, adding up to $874 in value.
However, when police raided her then home, they found more than $300k worth of Lego, which prosecutors said were “brand new and consistent with items in previous stolen reports”.
Truong’s representative pleaded with Magistrate Aaron Almeida not to hand her a custodial sentence.
‘Stupid decision’
The solicitor told the court that Truong, a Vietnamese national who moved to Australia on a partner visa in 2017, was a mother-of-three children, aged 10, seven and four, two with special educational needs.
The court was told jailing her would have a “catastrophic impact” on the family.
He said: “Her children have grown up in Australia and two of them have autism and require additional parental care.
“Under the Migration Act, imprisonment of 12 months or more would see her right to stay in Australia revoked.
“That would result in devastating consequences, not just for herself, but for three children who have grown up here.”
Truong also refuted the police’s claim that the haul was worth $320k in value – instead insisting it was closer to $200k.
Mr Almeida asked Truong’s legal representative about the motivation behind her offending.
He said: “Her motivation is a silly one. She had seen how popular Lego was at children’s birthday parties and then started to take it.
“This escalated to there being financial gain for her.
“It started as one stupid decision which led to lots of stupid decisions.”
The representative added that she wished to take full responsibility for her actions.
He said: “She is, in her own words, very remorseful and deeply regrets her wrongdoing.
“She said ‘I acknowledge what I did was wrong and accept full responsibility for my actions. I promise I will not reoffend in the future and still have responsibility to care for my family.”
Following the hearing, she left court with her face covered by the hood of her coat, a mask and sunglasses.
At a separate hearing, a single charge of unlawful possession laid against 42-year-old Thanh Van Ta, of the same address, were withdrawn.
Truong, who now lives in Devon Park, will be sentenced next week.