An enterprising Australian man thought he’d concocted the perfect crime. As a meth addict, 36-year-old Daniel Thomas needed a fix, so the best course of action was obviously to impersonate the police and stage a fake trade on the home of another known drug user to steal all the goods he could get his hands on. Of course, this didn’t quite work out as planned and he ended up with little more than cuffs on and a lengthy prison sentence. Points for creativity, though, I guess?
- Thomas really went all-in on his role. Busting down the door to the house in Melbourne’s east suburbs, Thomas is said to have shouted: “This is a police raid. Get on the floor face down. Where are your drugs?” Very convincing, I must say. Even the victims thought so.
- The two men in the home handed over their drugs. That included a stash of crystal meth and cannabis, but Thomas wasn’t convinced this was all they had and wanted more. That’s when he got violent and beat one of the men with a hammer until he passed out.
- Thomas went into a blind rage. After beating the one man with a hammer, Thomas proclaimed to the other man that he’s “killed [his] mate” and that he needed to give up where the other drugs were. Thomas then hit the other man, who was coming back to consciousness, with the hammer again and spread his butt cheeks to look for drugs.
- The real police turned up not long after. They initially believed Thomas had killed the men until they noticed one of them stirring. The scene was a grizzly one, with blood-stained walls and floors and the men badly injured. Thomas was immediately cuffed and taken to prison, but not before he lunged at an officer with a knife and yelled: “You come near me you f—ing dog c— and I’ll stab you in the f—ing head and kill you.” He was eventually Tasered and pepper-sprayed.
- Thomas was eventually sentenced to 11.5 years in prison. He’ll have to spend at least nine behind bars before he’s eligible for parole after being found guilty of aggravated burglary and several other charges, The Age reports.
