PROPERTY owners in Violet Town were left confused when a stolen shipping container involved in a $90,000 theft from Beechworth appeared at their home after a weekend away, a court has heard.

Appearing at Wangaratta Magistrates’ Court this week, a 53-year-old former Wangaratta woman admitted to having received the stolen container after it was found at the property she was house sitting for in mid-November last year.

The court heard two people entered a Flat Rock Road quarry worksite at Beechworth in the early hours of 16 November last year walking around storage sheds and machinery.

A white Mercedes Actros prime mover with a long green trailer was caught on CCTV arriving at a weighbridge at 4:20am.

Around an hour later, the truck was seen leaving the premises with a shipping container on the trailer.

The court heard about $80,000 worth of equipment including bearings, electric motors, shackles and spare parts were stored in the container, with the container itself worth around $10,000.

Police released images and CCTV of the truck with the stolen shipping container and alleged offenders on 25 November to appeal for public assistance.

Police found the truck used to steal the container was from a Wangaratta business, with CCTV showing a male offender entering the company truck yard at 2:15am the morning of the offending and leaving in the prime mover.

On 27 November, Wodonga investigators located the shipping container at a Violet Town address on Andersons Road and returned it back to the Beechworth quarry.

The equipment had been removed from the container and the property owners had no knowledge of the container or if it was stolen, having been away the weekend it arrived at their home.

The court heard the 53-year-old accused was house sitting at the Violet Town home and arranged for the container to arrive there, not knowing where it would come from.

She was arrested on 30 December, telling police she wanted to use the container for storage and there was nothing of value in there when it was dropped off at Violet Town.

Defence counsel Geoff Clancy said his client was moving properties, now living in Wodonga.

Mr Clancy said his client admitted she should have made further enquiries about where the container was coming from before receiving it.

Magistrate Ian Watkins imposed a $900 fine and said while the defendant’s role in the offending was of a lesser nature, she still played a part.

“The whole criminal enterprise relies on someone like you assisting the actual thieves,” he said.

One of the accused thieves alleged to have taken the container was charged and due to appear at Wangaratta Magistrates’ Court on 19 May.