By Belinda Feek, Open Justice reporter of 
Bradley John Croft went to the Plimmerton Boat Club in September 2020 and slashed boat covers and stole petrol tanks. It was part of a crime spree that lasted four years and also targeted Government agencies. Photo: Google maps
A beneficiary who embarked on a four-year crime spree that involved damaging 31 boats and defrauding the Ministry of Social Development and Inland Revenue was driven by a meth addiction and has gang ties.
Bradley John Croft's burglary damages and dishonesty, which included petrol drive-offs and thefts from supermarkets and retailers, would have come to the tune of around $466,000 - if he got away with it all.
Croft pocketed about $74,000 after lodging fake applications to the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) and Inland Revenue Department (IRD).
The Wellington man had tried to apply for around $351,000, but investigators picked up on the fraud before the remainder was paid to him.
As for his spate of boat damages and thefts around Porirua and Lower Hutt between September and November 2021, Croft claimed he "needed money and was in a bad way" after the sinking of his vessel, Ngatiki, in Lowry Bay.
After the years of offending, he appeared in the Hamilton District Court via video link from Hutt Valley last week for sentencing on 54 charges.
At the hearing, Judge Arthur Tompkins said he once bailed Croft so he could work to pay back $30,000 for boat damages.
But Croft continued to offend while on electronically monitored bail.
Slashed, smashed and stolen
Croft began targeting boats in the early hours of 15 September, 2020, when he went into the Plimmerton Boat Club in Porirua.
After cutting and stealing a length of hose, he moved through the yard, slashed the covers of boats and then stole petrol tanks from five vessels.
He crossed the road and cut the fuel line of another boat and stole its fuel tank before heading to Plimmerton, where he slashed another boat's cover and stole a 10-litre container of fuel.
About 2.30am on 16 November, he scaled a 3m-high security fence into another boat yard on Port Road, Seaview, Lower Hutt.
Bradley John Croft was sentenced in the Hamilton District Court. Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
Moving "methodically" through the yard, he slashed more boat covers, forced cabin doors open and used a retractable razor blade to get into the vessels.
For at least half an hour, the 42-year-old stole more petrol tote tanks, life jackets, marine electronics, fishing rods and a wakeboard, throwing the items over the fence before fleeing.
The victims sought $38,566.40 in reparations.
'Yee haa mad check my balance'
Before the boat offending began, Croft had filed a series of fake Covid-19 wage subsidy applications with MSD, despite being on a benefit.
Between 28 April, 2020, and 15 September, 2021, he submitted 39 applications, with the help of an associate, using his own and the IRD details of 11 others.
Among the applications, some of which were granted, he claimed to be a sole trader and that his business was down in revenue.
However, one of the representative charges Croft faced, of using a document for pecuniary advantage, related to 36 applications, all of which were declined.
Croft's offending was discovered by police who were investigating someone else relating to the wage subsidy scheme.
Bradley John Croft defrauded the Ministry of Social Development and Inland Revenue Department during his lengthy crime spree. Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King
They found he had used his phone, under the name "brad the mad", to text others about defrauding the scheme.
In one message, he texted the associate: "Mad wana send me the details for [name retracted] ... IR login".
"Oh s*** yee haa," the associate replied.
The next day, the associate wrote: "Morning mad have we been paid anything from any of those guys yet".
"Nah mad they all coming back declined," Croft replied.
The following day, Croft texted the associate again and said: "Yee haa mad check my balance".
"YEE F*** HAA my nomad ... jammy s***," the associate wrote.
Of the $133,931.60 Croft applied for, he received $12,916.
IRD paid out $62k
Around the same time, Croft also began flooding IRD with fake applications for small business loans, GST returns and a personal donation tax credit.
Court documents state he had been receiving a benefit since 2017.
However, between 12 May, 2020, and 17 July, 2020, Croft made 12 small business loan applications totalling $152,400 - one under his own name and 11 under others.
IRD paid out five of the 12 applications.
However, four GST returns, totalling $4766.65, five personal income tax returns and one personal donation tax credit totalling $52,529.23, were declined.
Four further income tax returns, one for Croft and three others, totalling $10,843.30, were also declined.
The IRD investigated his bank account and found he had no business expenditure and instead was spending his money on petrol, online gambling, groceries, takeaways and a phone. He also made large cash withdrawals and transfers after the small business loans were paid out.
In total, Croft fraudulently applied to the IRD for $220,529.18 and received $62,600.
Brushes stashed in his pants
But Croft's offending didn't stop there.
In September 2021, he stole a $59,043.59 trailer and a small digger from Downer, Dannevirke.
Then, in early 2024, he used a fake receipt to claim a refund for a $329 gazebo at Bunnings, and the following month tried to walk out of the store with $216 worth of paint brushes and doorknobs down his pants.
However, he was confronted by staff who demanded he hand over the stolen items.
He later told police he was trying to make some money.
In March 2024, Croft's crime spree continued as he went into Mitre 10 Mega Petone while holding a young child in his arms.
He walked around the store putting $520.64 worth of items in his trolley and leaving without paying.
Croft later stole $651 worth of petrol from BP Tawa and Z Mana before being arrested the following month. When searched, police found him with a ziplock bag of meth.
He was back out in the streets in May 2024 when he went to New World Churton Park and put toothbrushes down his pants.
Croft was asked by security to return the items but said he had already put them back on the shelf.
He also hit several supermarkets around Lower Hutt, Tawa, and Wainuiomata, stealing mostly meat, worth around $1300, by putting it in a pram and walking out.
He did the same at Supercheap Porirua - except with a $614 car battery - all between December last year and April this year.
At his recent sentencing on the multitude of offences, Judge Tompkins said Croft's criminal activity had been driven by his drug addiction.
He had also aligned himself with a gang, which "played a significant part" in his offending.
The judge found no reparation "could usefully be ordered" in relation to the IRD and MSD charges.
However, both agencies could deduct money from his benefit in the years to come.
On the 54 charges, taking the burglaries as the lead offending, along with charges of criminal damage, wilful damage, theft, shoplifting, receiving, possessing meth, and obtaining by deception, Judge Tompkins jailed Croft for three years and three months.
* This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald.
