Serial chocolate thieves who targeted shops across Harrogate and beyond have pleaded guilty at court.
26-year-old Vasile Leonard Ionescu of Ipswich, and 29-year-old Daniel Florin Mihai of no fixed address, appeared at York Magistrates’ Court yesterday (Thursday) charged with 13 retail crime offences across York, North Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, Cambridge and Suffolk.
Many of the offences took place in Harrogate and nearby Knaresborough, where a series of chocolate thefts were reported from supermarkets and convenience stores in late February and early March - worth nearly £3,500.
Following the development of intelligence reports linked to the incidents, the pair were arrested by North Yorkshire Police’s Road Policing Group at about 10.30am on Tuesday (3rd March) on the A1(M) heading north towards Dishforth.
They were taken into custody and questioned by officers from the York and Selby Investigation Hub before being charged.
The charges include the theft of chocolate and meat products worth £400 from the Co-op on Skipton Road in Harrogate on 25th February, along with the theft of £391 worth of chocolate from Sainsbury’s on Cold Bath Road and £116.25 worth from Sainsbury’s on Leeds Road in the town on the same day.
Other Harrogate offences included the theft of £140 worth of chocolate from the Co-op in Starbeck on 25th February, £272.09 worth from the Co-op on Station Lane on 26th February, and an attempted theft at Tesco on Ripon Road on 1st March.
Further offences admitted by the defendants include the theft of £240 worth of chocolate from Sainsbury’s Local in Knaresborough and £138.60 worth from Tesco in the town on 25 February.
The pair also admitted offences elsewhere in the region and beyond, including the theft of £500 worth of chocolate from Sainsbury’s in Haxby, York, on 25 February, £673.90 worth from Sainsbury’s in Malton on 26th February, and £307 worth from Tesco Express on Saltaire Road in Shipley on 27th February.
Additional charges relate to the theft of £300 worth of chocolate from the Co-op in Woodbridge, Suffolk, on 12th February and the theft of coffee of an unknown value from the Co-op in Fordham, Cambridge, on 19th February.
Both men pleaded guilty to all offences and were remanded into custody.
They are due to be sentenced at York Magistrates’ Court on 25th March at 10am.
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