Thief Turns Self In After Finding Child Porn on Cellphone, Gets Fined $400

A thief in the city of Ballarat in southwest Australia made a perverted discovery after stealing two cellphones from an unattended car. The unnamed man found child pornography on the phones and decided to turn himself into police in order to catch the man responsible for the photos.

The Age reports that the thief, who was not named due to legal reasons, was warned by police that if he turned in the phones he could be prosecuted for theft. The man agreed to turn himself in and said that he would cooperate in anyway to help police with their investigation into the child pornography on the phones.

Magistrate Michelle Hodgson said:

“You did the right thing. That kind of offending is very serious. You are to be commended for your conduct even though it placed you at jeopardy of losing your own liberty.”

The thief was also wanted for stealing a car last year. The thief ended up pleading guilty to 7 charges. He was jailed for one month and fined $400.

Hodgson said that he gave the man a lenient sentence because he didn’t want to discourage this type of behavior. Hodgson said:

“We don’t want to discourage other like minded people to act in the manner you have.”

The thief may have had to serve a month in prison, but he was probably pretty happy to found out that his selfless act led to child pornography charges against a 46-year-old man.

Would you have turned yourself in?