{"id":123456,"date":"2026-06-19T09:25:44","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T23:25:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/?p=123456"},"modified":"2026-06-19T09:25:44","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T23:25:44","slug":"ballarat-police-charge-alleged-car-thief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/ballarat-police-charge-alleged-car-thief\/","title":{"rendered":"Ballarat police charge alleged car thief"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-start=\"633\" data-end=\"768\">A Ballarat teenager has been charged after police allegedly linked him to the theft of four vehicles in a single day across the region.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"770\" data-end=\"917\">Detectives from the Ballarat Divisional Crime Investigation Unit charged the 16-year-old boy following an arrest in Ballarat on Wednesday, June 17.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"919\" data-end=\"1110\">Police said officers conducting patrols in the area spotted the teenager before approaching him. Investigators allege the boy attempted to flee on foot but was arrested after a short pursuit.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1112\" data-end=\"1262\">During a search, officers allegedly located a small quantity of methylamphetamine and GHB, as well as scissors, a spanner, gloves and a surgical mask.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1264\" data-end=\"1614\">Following an interview, detectives charged the teenager with four counts of theft of a motor vehicle, unlicensed driving, careless driving, failing to stop a motor vehicle on police direction, stating a false name, possessing methylamphetamine, possessing GHB, going equipped to steal and six counts of committing an indictable offence while on bail.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1616\" data-end=\"1731\">Police will allege the vehicles were stolen from Mount Helen, Leigh Creek, Bacchus Marsh and Maddingley on June 12.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1733\" data-end=\"1823\">The boy was remanded in custody and will appear before a Children&#8217;s Court at a later date.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1825\" data-end=\"1944\">The charges come amid an ongoing focus by Ballarat detectives on vehicle theft and related offending across the region.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1946\" data-end=\"2058\">Detective Inspector Andrew Brady said investigators had made significant progress targeting alleged car thieves.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2060\" data-end=\"2228\">\u201cSince 29 March, detectives from Ballarat Divisional Crime Investigation Unit have arrested and charged more than 75 car thieves and seized around 265 stolen vehicles.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2230\" data-end=\"2388\">\u201cOur officers have been working incredibly hard to catch car thieves in the Ballarat area. We are out in the evenings and overnight to catch them red handed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2390\" data-end=\"2493\">\u201cIt\u2019s our priority to make sure these offenders continue to feel the heat and keep our community safe.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2495\" data-end=\"2667\">Police continue to urge vehicle owners to lock their cars, secure keys and report suspicious activity as detectives work to reduce vehicle theft across the Ballarat region.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2495\" data-end=\"2667\">Anyone with information about vehicle theft or suspicious activity is urged to contact <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crimestoppersvic.com.au\/report-a-crime\/\">Crime Stoppers.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Ballarat teenager has been charged after police allegedly linked him to the theft of four vehicles in a single day across the region. Detectives from the Ballarat Divisional Crime Investigation Unit charged the 16-year-old boy following an arrest in Ballarat on Wednesday, June 17. Police said officers conducting patrols in the area spotted the [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/ballarat-police-charge-alleged-car-thief\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":254,"featured_media":123455,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-123456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Ballarat police charge alleged car thief - Ballarat Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A Ballarat teenager has been charged after police allege he stole four vehicles in one day and possessed illicit drugs.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/ballarat-police-charge-alleged-car-thief\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ballarat police charge alleged car thief - 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