A love of cigarettes and a penchant for speed have landed Dapto man Christian James Mackay in deep trouble with the law.
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Mackay, 27, confessed on Tuesday to his role in a series of traffic and fraud crimes stemming from two separate incidents in August last year and March this year.
Wollongong Local Court heard that in the August matter, Mackay used a stolen credit card to go on a morning spending spree at several supermarkets south of Wollongong.
The card, pinched from the centre console of a car parked at Dapto some time in the hours before 6.30am on August 11, was used by Mackay 15 times over the next six hours to purchase thousands of dollars worth of items, including a television, mobile phone credit, electronic goods and multiple cartons of cigarettes.
The card's owner uncovered the illegal purchases after reporting the card stolen to his bank.
Police were alerted to the thefts but had trouble tracking Mackay down and he was only arrested over the crimes in February this year.
It is understood he was given bail in relation to the 16 charges - one count of receiving stolen property and 15 counts of dishonestly obtaining property by deception.
However less than a month later Mackay was re-arrested after leading police on a wild and at times dangerous pursuit through Warrawong and Port Kembla.
The court heard officers tried to pull Mackay over at 6.47am on March 19 after seeing his Mazda 323 cross double unbroken lines on Cowper Street, Warrawong, but he sped off, prompting police to begin a chase.
Mackay nearly collided with oncoming traffic when turning onto King Street and travelled on the wrong side of the road along Five Island Road, forcing one vehicle to crash into a concrete barrier.
Mackay and another man in the car were eventually arrested - Mackay run down by a police dog - after dumping the vehicle near BlueScope Steel and trying to run away.
In a statement to the court, officers involved in the pursuit were scathing of Mackay's behaviour: "The actions of the accused in driving the vehicle against the traffic flow can only be described as extremely dangerous with the possible outcome being catastrophic".
He will be sentenced on May 28.
