A 20-year-old man who was sentenced to a year in jail with a six-month parole period for riding in a stolen car had the jail sentence overturned following a severity appeal in Orange District Court.
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Calab Wiegold, of Matthews Avenue, could have been released on parole May 28.
His DNA was found on a beer bottle that was recovered from the stolen car along with a jerrycan.
Although he pleaded not guilty to being in the car, he was found guilty at a hearing in Orange Local Court.
Wiegold's DNA was found after the stolen Ford Courier ute was stopped by police and the 17-year-old driver was caught and arrested despite running from the scene on September 16, 2017.
Along with the DNA found on the bottle, police also tended transcripts of text messages between Wiegold and the driver at the hearing.
At the time, police were investigating the theft and burning of Ford Courier utes and Mazda Bravo utes with only six out of 30 stolen vehicles found intact.
In lieu of Wiegold's jail sentence he was given a 12-month intensive correction order.
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