Oamaru police have asked people to check whether they have property missing after a 31-year-old carpet-layer from Weston was charged in the Oamaru District Court with taking items from places he was working in.
Craig Stephen Dunne did not appear in court on Wednesday to enter a plea, but was granted an adjournment by a registrar to appear again in Oamaru on January 19.
The 10 charges faced by Dunne relate to incidents between June and November and involve items including jewellery, heirlooms, chainsaws, engagement rings, wedding rings and an electronic scale from Glen Warren Kindergarten.
Outside court, community constable Bruce Dow said police would like to hear from any others Dunne had worked for who thought items had possibly been lost or had gone missing.
Senior Constable Dow said some of the items reported to police as missing - but since recovered as stolen - were family heirlooms, which people might not notice were missing until a long time had passed.
Complaints had been received from home-owners regarding property being missing after they had had work done inside their homes, police said.
Some of the incidents had not been reported to police until two years later, because at first home-owners had not realised items had been stolen, police said.
