Police briefs

Graffiti hunt
BELGRAVE Police are searching for vandals who graffitied the Menzies Creek Community Hall and a children’s centre last week, and asking anyone with information to come forward.
Belgrave Police Sergeant, Paul Phillips, said that between 8pm on Thursday 14 May and 8am the following day, graffiti had been sprayed on the Menzies Creek Community Hall.
“Someone or some people have graffitied all of the exterior walls of the community hall, and also graffitied road signs and a children’s centre hall at the same location,” Sgt Phillips said.
Anyone with information is asked to call Belgrave Police on 9754 6677 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

School break-in
POLICE are appealing for witnesses after Monbulk Secondary College was broken into last Thursday.
At 2am on Thursday 14 May, police believe that someone got into the school buildings through a window and stole a document scanner, which had an estimated value of $250.
Anyone with information is asked to call Lilydale Police on 9739 2300 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

Burglar search
POLICE are searching for burglars after two properties were broken into on the same day earlier this month.
Between 6pm on 9 May and noon on 10 May, an unknown person entered a construction site on Bellbird Drive in Lilydale through temporary fencing, and entered an open garage.
Liquor, an esky and an angle grinder were stolen, worth about $200 altogether.
On the same day, between 3pm and 11pm, a property on Cave Hill Road in Lilydale was also robbed.
Lilydale Police Crime Investigation Unit (CIU) Detective Sergeant, Mark Smithwick said that persons unknown entered the property through a window, taking an Apple computer, a Samsung TV and a Sony PlayStation 3, worth over $2000.
Det Sgt Smithwick did not specify whether the two incidents were linked.
Anyone with information on either burglary is urged to call Lilydale Police on 9739 2300 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

No fixed address
A MAN of no fixed address will face Ringwood Magistrates’ Court later this year after being arrested in relation to burglaries in Coldstream and Lilydale.
The 21-year-old man was arrested on 13 May in relation to a theft at Coldstream’s Levantine Hill winery construction site on Maroondah Highway on 7 May, where thousands of dollars of power tools were stolen.
He was also charged in relation to a burglary at a Cave Hill Road, Lilydale address on 2 May.
The man was charged with burglary and theft, and was bailed to appear at Ringwood Magistrates’ Court on 16 September.

Opportunistic thief
POLICE are searching for information after the attempted theft of a kayak in Launching Place last week.
Lilydale Police Crime Investigation Unit (CIU) Detective Sergeant, Mark Smithwick, said that, at 4pm on 11 May, a man knocked on the front door of a house in Wellman Street, Launching Place.
Det Sgt Smithwick said the man entered the house, taking a few steps inside, before leaving.
“He then left the house and attempted to steal a kayak on the way out,” he said.
Anyone with information is asked to call Lilydale Police on 9739 2300 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.