LISA Valerie Bourke made a wrong call when she picked up a mobile phone worth $800 that had been left on a shop counter in Batemans Bay on September 12.
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The 48-year-old woman, from Karoola Crescent, Surfside, saw the phone on a newsagency counter when she went to pay for her newspaper.
She hid it behind her wallet just before the owner of the phone returned to the shop to ask the shop owner if he had seen it.
Ms Bourke made no attempt to return the phone to him before he left the premises.
The victim again retraced his steps to the shop, where the owner looked at CCTV footage which showed a woman wearing a South Sydney Rabbitohs jumper picking up the phone.
The victim reported the incident to the police, who obtained a copy of the footage.
Eight days later, police went to Ms Bourke’s home.
She confessed she had taken the phone and gave it to police, who noted she had removed the SIM card.
In Batemans Bay Local Court on January 23, Ms Bourke pleaded guilty to a charge of larceny before magistrate Mark Douglass placed her on a good behaviour bond for 12 months.
