Waterford teen stole fuel from filling station four times in under a week

A Waterford teenager who drove off from filling stations without paying for fuel, four times in under a week, has been sentenced at Dundalk District Court to four months for two counts of theft, and had two other charges marked taken into consideration.

19 year old Michael O’Reilly with an address at Green Road Halting Site, Ballybeg, Waterford, pleaded guilty.

Court presenter Sgt Jimmy McGovern outlined how at 5pm on March 6th last year, at Applegreen M1 Southbound, Castlebellingham, an Opel Insignia pulled up at the pumps.

The driver put just over €90 worth of fuel in the car and almost €134 worth was put in containers which were in the boot.

He took a can from the service station, left it back, returned to the car and drove off.

Two days later, at Maxol, Dublin Road, Dundalk, he put just over €200 in the Insignia and in two drums.

The same day, at Malone’s Circle K, Drogheda Road, Ardee, the defendant filled the car and several containers with over €131 worth of fuel.

The last theft occurred on March 10th at Flanagan’s Circle K, Dundalk, where he put over €70 worth of fuel in the Insignia.

The Defence solicitor said his client has been in custody for six months and is studying for his Junior Cert.

He added he wanted to apologise for what happened and explained that at the time the teenager was using street tablets and funding that habit.

The court heard the defendant has 20 previous convictions including for theft and is currently serving a sentence.