Hamilton man Mason Helm gets law degree while on bail for ‘sophisticated’ offending

A young “sophisticated and intelligent criminal” put GPS trackers on vehicles, mostly Ford Rangers, then copied their keys so he could climb in and drive away in them.

But Mason Helm has since put his intelligence to better use and gone on to get a law degree at the University of Waikato during the three-and-a-half years he’s been on electronically-monitored bail.

His family, friends and university colleagues were in the Hamilton District Court to support him during his recent sentencing in the hope he didn’t get sent to jail.

“What we have here is a case where over three and a half years, Mr Helm has demonstrated to the court and the community his enduring commitment to paying his debt to the community and ensuring that he grows into a man that will never come to the court again in these circumstances,” his lawyer, Sacha Norrie, said in pleading her case as to why Helm should receive distinct discount for his rehabilitative efforts, including getting his degree.

The 25-year-old stole seven vehicles, and was also charged with receiving property that had been stolen from various commercial Hamilton businesses, between 2019 and 2021. All up, his offending totalled around $250,000 and when he was eventually arrested he was also found with nearly 200g of cannabis.

In a slight criminal segue, he also organised for two pill presses to be imported from China to emulate the then-popular ‘Pink Porsche’ MDMA drug.

Police also found evidence of his being in possession of 350 MDMA pills in 2019.

Judge Philip Crayton described his offending as “sophisticated, pre-meditated, targeted, and versatile” and said he was “ensconced in a criminal life” at the time.

“While you were a young offender, you were not a naïve, young man. You were a sophisticated, intelligent criminal.

“That is the opinion of experts and it’s the opinion of yourself when you have been spoken to.”

Despite that, Helm managed to avoid jail and was last month given six months’ home detention and ordered to pay $10,000 reparation, split among eight of his victims, when he appeared for sentencing on representative charges of receiving property, unlawfully taking motor vehicles, possession of MDMA for supply, possession of cannabis, and participating in an organised criminal group.

Helm admitted stealing an R2R off-road vehicle from Action Equipment worth $25,000 in March 2019, and when his property was searched he was found in possession of a triple axle trailer that had 14 months earlier been stolen from Ag Attachments.

Police also found a $30,000 generator, the property of Hamilton City Council, that was stolen from the Ruakiwi water reservoir - a vital part of the city’s emergency measures so the city and Waikato Hospital were not left without water.

A Ford Ranger was also found with components fitted in it from a vehicle stolen from Rototuna.

Helm admitted the theft of seven vehicles; six from Hamilton, one from Cambridge.

His vehicles of choice were Ford Rangers, Ford Couriers and one Mazda.

Prior to stealing them, Helm had sourced various materials specific to Ford vehicles. They included a turbo decoder - which could be used to code a new key to the vehicle - blackboard keys, transponders specific to Ford Rangers manufactured between 2011 and 2015, and GPS tracking devices to put on vehicles of interest to him.

Between March 3 and November 11, 2019, Helm set out to find the items, first up was a $13,000 Ford Courier parked, and locked, in a Cambridge driveway