A Southern River man faced the Armadale Magistrates Court yesterday after he allegedly fitted out his home with items stolen from display homes and building sites across the southeastern suburbs.
The arrest comes after Armadale detectives stopped a car in Canning Vale at about 2.15am on June 7 and found items believed to be linked to a series of alleged burglaries at display homes in Whitby.
Police spent two days searching the man’s home in Caversham Bend, Southern River and were seen removing a number of items including paintings, lounge suites, televisions and air conditioning.
According to police, the property has been linked to 25 separate offences and the investigation is ongoing.
The 28-year-old Southern River man was charged with four counts of aggravated burglary, six counts of stealing and one count of stealing a motor vehicle.
A 23-year-old Southern River woman was charged with three counts of aggravated burglary and five counts of stealing.
She was expected to appear in the Armadale Magistrates Court on June 24.
Mundijong Police Senior Sergeant Darryl Brandis said burglaries at homes under construction were an ongoing problem in new areas such as Whitby, Mundijong and Byford because they were seen as easy targets.
“We target those areas, we patrol all the time but unfortunately there’s still a rise in these offences because they can get away with it,” he said.
“So it’s great to see that our local detectives, who we work well with, can knock off these offenders.”
He said while these types of offences often reduced when people started moving into the area, there were a number of measures building companies could adopt to combat burglaries.
“What we’ve done is encourage the building companies to get hold of Meridian Services and to get GPS trackers to be put on equipment,” he said.
“If they know something expensive is being put in like an oven, they can put a device in there and track it and that’s how these ‘Aladdin’s Caves’ are found because they’ve got so many items there.”
He said police also conducted regular patrols in problem areas and operated covert cameras.
