Family discount stores sold goods stolen to order
March 18 2003
By Olivia Hill-Douglas
A family sold $300,000 of goods that had been stolen to order by
professional shoplifters, a court heard yesterday.
John Stark, his wife, Marianne, and their son, Damien, pleaded guilty in
the County Court in Melbourne to two charges of conspiracy to steal and
one count of conspiracy to obtain property by deception.
John Stark, 60, also pleaded guilty to one charge of conspiracy to commit
burglary and one of trafficking cannabis.
John Stark would order convicted shoplifters Shona Virtue and Debra
Phillips to steal fax machines, clothing, batteries, stationery, travel
goods and toiletries. The goods would be sold through the family's three
Shopaholic discount stores at Port Melbourne, Hampton and Mentone.
John Stark would pay the women one third the retail value of the stolen
goods and sell them through Shopaholic at twice the price he paid.
http://www.shine.net.au/shinemag/bguide/shoplifting.htm
The Art of Shoplifting
NB:The following is a reproduction of the article published
by the Student newspaper Rabelais in July 1995. The article was
effectively banned and the editors charged facing 6 years in jail and
$24,000 fines. In March 99 the charges were finally dropped without
explanation. The article still remains banned in Australia. Shine is
publishing this article as an anit-censorship protest and to make people
aware of Australian's lack of a right to freedom of speech.
Click here for more information about the
Rabelais case.
