Pubdate: Tue, 24 Jan 2006
Source: Rotorua Daily Post (New Zealand)
Copyright: 2006 Rotorua Daily Post.
Contact:  http://www.mapinc.org/media/2785
Website: http://www.dailypost.co.nz/
Author: Abigail Caspari
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

WOMAN ADMITS THEFTS TO BUY DRUGS

A Rotorua woman stole more than $50,000 worth of property to fuel her 
methamphetamine habit.

Jaime Ani Russell, 20, unemployed, yesterday pleaded guilty in the Rotorua 
District Court to 17 charges of burglary between October 5 and December 6 
last year.

Police said Russell targeted rural properties, mainly in Rotorua but also 
in Te Puke, Kawerau and Taihape. Many of the burglaries were committed 
during the daytime when the owners were out. In all of the burglaries 
Russell used her car and she was helped by one to three associates. The 
property she stole included alcohol, food, firearms, jewellery, clothing, 
televisions, PlayStations, stereos, computers, other electronic equipment, 
an outboard motor and chainsaws.

In one burglary at Hamurana, Russell and her associates ransacked the 
interior, stealing $5800 worth of property. They used a spade to smash a 
gun rack trying to free three firearms, with little success.

Russell and her associates then attempted to remove the firearms with such 
force the shotgun and two rifles broke in half.

She entered homes by forcing or smashing windows and in one case through an 
open ranch slider.

When Russell was caught by police she listed all the homes she had burgled. 
She said she had fallen in with a bad crowd and had done the burglaries to 
fuel a methamphetamine habit. The majority of the property had not been 
recovered and was unlikely to be. Judge Phillip Cooper granted Russell bail 
but told her not to take that as any indication of her prison sentence.

He requested pre-sentence and reparation reports and victim impact 
statements to assist him in sentencing Russell on February 27.
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