A GANG fleeced shops by ordering goods by phone on other people's credit cards and sending couriers to collect them, a court heard.
The callers arranged a codeword with shopkeepers for the handover, and got taxis to deliver jewellery to them, said Stephen Duffield, prosecuting.
They struck in Darlington and Redcar before police arrested two men and a teenage girl, Teesside Crown Court was told.
The girl said she was under the influence of the men, said Christopher Whitehouse, defending.
They got away with a £445 gold chain from a jewellers in Darlington, and four pairs of leather trousers, worth £500, from a shop in Redcar.
Michelle Blackburn, now 20, of Grosmont Close, Redcar, was given a 12-month community rehabilitation order and 100 hours of community punishment after she was found guilty of conspiracy to obtain goods by deception between May and July 2001.
She admitted four offences of obtaining by deception in March and April 2001.
A Redcar man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was jailed for 15 months after being found guilty of conspiracy.
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