“He did everything himself and he has nailed it.”

The Court’s documents describe how Tupago targeted companies between March 2022 and April 2023 to operate his addiction. His Modus Operandi, Judge Pippa Sinclair noted, often involved his then partner Leteasha McMurdo distracting staff while Tupago zeroed in on objects on the counter or the wallets stored in staff outside the borders.

Stolen bank cards were used quickly to pick up hundreds of dollars in additional expenses before the victims could cancel them.

McMurdo was sentenced last year for his commitment.

Tupago could have been faced with up to seven years in prison each for 37 theft fees and up to ten years in prison for five burglar fees, which included an incident in March 2023 where he entered a room at Park Hyatt Hotel in Auckland Central and stole a guest’s Australian Pass.

He also admitted six bills for using a bank card for a financial advantage, two bills for not stopping the police, a count of dangerous driving and other fees.

The vast majority of victims were restaurants and shops throughout Auckland, as were their employees. But the couple also stole over $ 1000 sunglasses from a store in Hamilton; Three donation boxes from companies in Paihia; An employee’s car keys and a SPCA donation box from companies in Kerikeri; a donation box from a gas station in Kaeo; And a lace jar that was reported contained several hundred dollars from a Whangārei restaurant.

Their smallest heist described in court documents involved Tupago that filled an ice cream and an energy drink – combined value, $ 9 – down on the pants in a store in Coopers Beach, Northland.

When he later questioned the burglary in the Rib House restaurant in Auckland in Auckland, where he crawled behind the bar and stole $ 400 in coins used for the Gaming Lounge, he admitted to the police: “It was probably me, but I was quite high on drug.”

For most of the charges, he refused to comment.

The theft edge ended on April 11, 2023, when police admitted that Tupago was wanted for dishonesty that was insulted and tried to stop their vehicle in remuera.

“The defendant accelerated away from the police on the wrong side of the road and is missing narrow missing traffic,” court documents say. “At this time, the weather conditions were poor and the road was wet. There was a large volume of traffic. “

He continued to weave through lane after running a red light and forcing traffic to stop at a point when he accelerated in the opposite lane over 85 km/h. He eventually dumped the car in St Johns and was arrested shortly after that.

McMurdo, a passenger in the car, was also arrested.

Tupago’s case was drawn partly for several years because he continued to be identified in new crimes – many of which were captured on CCTV – since his image was distributed by law enforcement. Every time he appeared in court, new charges would be added, Leith explained to the judge.

But he owned his misunderstandings as soon as practically possible, said the defense lawyer.

A constant room that was only a number of supporters filled the courtroom this week, which had been the case during the previous court date. Many were from the recovery society. Judge Sinclair allowed two people in Tupago chosen to address her directly about why they were present.

A founder of Recovery First House, the rehabilitation facility where Tupago has lived on an electronically monitored bail since December 2023, said he had never been in a judgment before to support a resident but this case was different.

“Not many people come to the recovery house and succeed,” he admitted. “Mike has taken recovery with open arms …

“Instead of being a roof, he has been a real donor. Many people in the recovery society depend on Mike. He is a real leader.

“The house would not work as well as it has done over the past year without him.”

Another supporter who exclaimed to be clean and sober for over four years now reminded themselves of growing up with Tupago surrounded by addiction, gang and abuse.

“We were stuck in a bicycle,” he said, explaining that they both had no family and would soon insult after coming out of prison – an eternal burden on the system.

But after several years of separation, they reconciled to anonymous drugs and he has been proud to see Tupago’s progress, he said.

Judge Sinclair congratulated both men for his hard work.

She confirmed the defendant’s rough childhood, which included a father involved in drugs and gangs and an alcoholic mother. He entered the central government at the age of 13 after his mother died and turned to the killer Beez and the tribes for an alternative family but left the gang a decade ago, she noted.

When she first got Tupago’s file, Judge Sinclair said that her first impression was that the prison was inevitable.

“Given the large number and repetitive nature of your abusive, it can almost be classified as a commercial operation,” she explained and reminded him that “at every time you created a victim by taking their property”.

“The victims have conveyed their understandable distress.”

But she was satisfied with a penalty of 11 months home department, to be spent at the rehabilitation facility.

She noted that Tupago had already spent 431 days in custody waiting for his case to be resolved – such a long stay that has already served punishment. He spent another 412 days on electronically monitored bail.

If he were sentenced to prison, Tupago’s lawyer noted, he would probably be released within a couple of months at his first Parole board negotiation and in the meantime would not have the continued advantage of his recovery program.

While the police originally proposed a prison, the prosecutor acknowledged before the judge’s decision that a non-care period made sense in view of the unique circumstances.

Judge Sinclair also ordered that Tupago would be disqualified from driving for two and a half years and noted that it was “pure luck and happiness” that no members of the public were killed when he fled the police in Remuera. She recalled that one of his chores at the recovery is first to run others to meetings but said that the law demanded the disqualification period in view of his long history by fleeing police.

The police had been looking for disqualification for four and a half years.

Judge Sinclair recalled that Tupago’s lawyer had called his change in attitude “remarkable” after “demonstratively defeating” his “massive meth habits”.

“He may very well be right,” she said, noting the supporters in the audience when Tupago dried in her eyes. “There is a common theme: Not only have you completely embraced the Recovery First program … but you have also shown leadership qualities and been a role model for others who come through the program.”

She expressed hope that his sobriety work would continue and note that if it does, it will be the best result not only for him but for society he has so often taken from.

Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist who covers courts and justice. He joined Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three news rooms in the United States and New Zealand.

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