A man who was found in possession of a St George debit card, which was suspected to have been stolen, was convicted when he faced Orange Local Court on Monday.
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Ernest Lionel Roe, 36, of Margaret Street, was given a 12-month conditional release order for possession of the Visa debit card, which police found on him at at 3.56am on May 21.
Police were patrolling Orchard Grove Road about 3.40am and saw Roe and another wan walking along the road near Raines Place.
They told police they were walking to the 7/Eleven to buy cigarettes. Due to the time of night and information police had about the men, they searched them.
Roe told police he planned to ask a few people he knew if they knew who the owner was and he suspected it was stolen.
When police asked why he said "because this area is shocking mate, with all the thieves and that".
Roe was represented in court by solicitor Andrew Abraham and pleaded guilty to having possession of suspected stolen property.
Mr Abraham said although Roe had a criminal record he had no previous instances of dishonesty on his record.
"My instructions are he found the card in the alley that night," Mr Abraham said.
Although Roe had no other cards or cash on him to buy cigarettes with Mr Abraham said his friend, who he was with, had "money to buy the smokes".
"He wasn't going to use the card to buy the smokes," Mr Abraham said.
Mr Abraham said Roe had also just started a new full-time job for the first time in several years.
Magistrate David Day said a full-time job should help Roe stay out of trouble.
"He will be busy, no idle hands," Mr Day said.
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