Car dealership sales manager charged with cannabis possession and 83 thefts
A 34-year-old Piara Waters man was charged on 6 October 2026 with one count of possessing cannabis and 83 counts of stealing as a servant from a Rockingham car dealership. Police allege he diverted A$96,029.93 in customer deposit refunds and A$23,000 in deposits into 21 bank accounts; he was due in Rockingham Magistrates Court on 30 October 2026.
🇦🇺 Rockingham, Western Australia · Western Australia, Australia
·
Charged
1
A 34-year-old man from Piara Waters, Western Australia, was charged on 6 October
2026.[1][2]The charges were 83 counts of stealing as a servant and one count of
possessing cannabis.[3][2]Detectives from the Financial Crimes Squad laid the
charges after an investigation into his work as a sales manager at a car
dealership.[1][2]He was due to appear before the Rockingham Magistrates Court on
30 October 2026.[1][2]
Police allege he maintained 21 bank accounts used to receive fraudulent customer
refunds and vehicle deposits.[4][2]They allege he altered contracts and receipts
and created fraudulent cheque requisition forms and supporting emails to divert
money from the business.[4]Between November 2023 and September 2025,
A$96,029.93 in customer deposit refunds and a further A$23,000 in customer
deposits were paid into accounts held by the accused, police allege.[4][2]Coast
FM, a local radio station, described him as a former sales manager at a
Rockingham car dealership and put the alleged theft at nearly A$120,000.[3]
The police release says the man was charged with 83 offences but lists 83 counts of stealing as a servant plus one count of possessing cannabis, 84 counts in total.
No quantity of cannabis, location of the cannabis or circumstances of the possession charge were published.
The sources do not report what happened at the Rockingham Magistrates Court appearance on 30 October 2026.
The accused was not named in the sources.
No photograph of the cannabis, the accused or the court appearance was published; Coast FM's only image was a file picture of a car dealership.
Mirage News publishes the same Western Australia Police public release as The National Tribune, so it repeats the police account rather than adding independent confirmation.
Far North police stopped a Holden sedan 30 km north of Marla on 5 November 2026 and arrested two Port Augusta men aged 21 and 22. Officers allegedly found a trafficable quantity of cannabis plus 33 four-litre casks and whisky; both men were charged with commercial drug trafficking and supplying liquor to a prescribed area.
Cobram detectives charged a 66-year-old Numurkah man on 31 October 2026 after a Murray Avenue search that followed an alleged 29 October shot at a vehicle. The charges include cultivating and possessing cannabis alongside reckless endangerment, explosives and weapons counts; he was remanded to Shepparton court on 2 November.
Victoria Police arrested 20 people during a drug and weapons operation at Northland's retail hub in Preston on 20 and 29 October. Two men were charged after police allegedly found cannabis alongside weapons, while 15 of the arrests were for drug possession overall.
Jason Donnelly, 33, pleaded guilty in Ballarat Magistrates' Court on 27 October 2026 to five charges after police seized 6.39 kilograms of cannabis from his car and Mount Pleasant bedroom. A magistrate granted summary jurisdiction despite his long drug record and warned that deterrence required a prison term; sentencing was set for 14 December 2026.
