NEWS DESK
Sewage spill ‘did not enter creek’ – SEW
Telltale signs: Somerville Senior Constable Dave Taylor dusts the caravan for fingerprints.
Mobile storage for stolen goods Stephen Taylor steve@mpnews.com.au A CARAVAN parked on the Rosebud foreshore and later found to be stolen was a holding pen for property stolen from residential and holiday homes from Carrum Downs to Rosebud. Inside the caravan and in a stolen Ford Econovan police found an Aladdin’s Cave of missing items valued at thousands of dollars. The light-fingered “owner� of the vehicles, of Frankston North, was last week charged with 13 counts of burglary, theft, car and caravan stealing, and obtaining property by deception. He was remanded at Frankston Magistrates’ Court on Friday 23 October to reappear at a date to be fixed. Detective Senior Sergeant Nick Vallas, of Somerville police complex, said members of the public reported a man “door handling� in the Rosebud area –
walking quickly past cars and trying their door handles to see if they were open – and raised the alarm. Police drove to the foreshore and interviewed the suspect, who Detective Vallas described as a “transient�. The man claimed to be the owner of the white Econovan, which was later found to be stolen from South Australia. The caravan’s number plates were allegedly stolen from Page Bros. RV, of Wells Rd, Seaford. “The fellow could not produce his bona fides as to ownership of the van, the caravan or the goods,� Detective Vallas said. “He consented to a search and police found a lot of property which turned out to be stolen over the previous five days.� The haul included wallets and their contents from car break-ins at Frankston, Frankston North, Mornington and Mt Eliza, electrical goods and TVs from a Seaford retailer, as well
as the campervan, which was reported missing from Carrum Downs. The total value was estimated at $40,000 for the caravan and its contents and $1000 for the Econovan. Police will allege credit cards stolen from wallets were used to buy items from unsuspecting retailers. They say keys to several homes had been stolen and then used to rob them of valuables at different times. “One house in Frankston was broken into in April and then again in the past five days,� Detective Vallas said. “The man may have travelled back and forth and a lot of property may turn out to have been stolen from over a much longer period.� Police on Tuesday towed the van and caravan to a secure Mornington Peninsula vehicle depot to sort through the stolen items. They are now working to reunite the rightful owners with their property.
SOUTH East Water says sewage that leaked from its pumping station in Pentecost Rd, Mornington, in August did not enter Tanti Creek. The government authority's general manager of network services, Mark McCormack, refuted a report in The News ("Delays to sewage station repairs", 27/1015) and said the leak was contained before it entered the waterway. "The leak at the Pentecost Rd pumping station ... was due to infiltration of stormwater and groundwater into the old abandoned sewer rising main [pipe] at the lowest point adjacent to the pumping station," he said. He said fixing this problem cost about $30,000, not $100,000 as reported, but the authority had been forced to spend more money this month to fix a second problem and the cost was not yet known. "While the [August] stormwater and groundwater leak was contained, South East Water notified the EPA as is normal practice. South East Water [not the EPA] sampled the creek at a number of locations to verify that the creek was not impacted," he said. "In October a small leak was detected on a coupling on the new rising main. It was unrelated to the earlier infiltration. This was also contained and again no sewage entered the creek. "The repair is complex and custommade fittings need to be manufactured, meaning the repair is taking longer than usual. It is expected the repair will be completed next week. "While the cost of these works has
not been finalised, it is expected to be a costly repair." Mr McCormack said there would be further works this month to "abandon the old rising main as part of continuing decommissioning works". "This will consist of the grouting of a number of road crossings and a section of the old rising main under ... Pentecost Rd to the pumping station." A section of Pentecost Rd would need to be excavated to complete the works, he said. "This should be for less than a week and we will minimise the impact to local traffic as much as possible." Mr McCormack said South East Water had been working closely with businesses adjacent to the works to ensure any impact on them is minimised. Traffic accessing Mornington's light industrial area has been using alternate routes. The Pentecost Sewer Renewal project, which included constructing the new rising main, was carried out between May 2012 and mid-2013 Mike Hast
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