Serial thief given prison sentence for €3,000 Letterkenny crime spree

A serial thief who stole over €3,000 worth of items from a variety of shops in Letterkenny has been jailed.

Robert Polacek appeared before Letterkenny District Court on 37 separate charges, most of which were for theft and was sentenced to 20 months in prison.

Polacek was also charged with exposing his genitals to staff in a shop while he also faced two charges of the possession of drugs and a charge contrary to the Public Order Act.

The 34-year-old, with an address at Celtic Apartments, Port Road, Letterkenny, was brought from Castlerea Prison, where he has been in custody since February 19. Polacek pleaded guilty to all of the charges, which were outlined to the court by Sergeant Jim Collins.

Among the litany of offences was stealing four raincoats, worth a combined €365.95, from TK Maxx, Letterkenny, on October 15, 2025. The court heard that he put on each coat over the top of the other and left the store.

He was also charged with the theft of three Hugo Boss gift sets, valued at a total of €314.85, from Magees Pharmacy, Letterkenny on October 1, 2025.

Polacek was charged with making off with two jackets, each valued at €110, from TK Maxx on separate dates in November 2025, while he took clothing to the value of €214.98 from TK Maxx on October 26, 2024.

He also stole two jackets worth €90 each from TK Maxx on November 14, 2024, clothing worth €54.99 from the same store on October 28, 2024 as well as a coat valued at €166.99 from TK Maxx on October 30, 2024.

Polacek pleaded guilty to stealing four pairs of trainers, valued at a total of €200, from TK Maxx on July 24, 2025 and to taking a robot vacuum cleaner worth €179 from Callaghan’s Electrical on August 5, 2025.

On one occasion at TK Maxx, when challenged by an employee in the shop, Polacek dropped his trousers, exposing himself. He was identified as the culprit and the incident was captured on CCTV.

The accused man also admitted stealing numerous items of clothing, valued at €183.98, from Menarys in February, 2026.

Polacek stole €190 worth of washing products, including eight bags of Fairy washing pods, from Homesavers on October 1, 2025 and made off with three Under Armour t-shirts worth a combined €134.85 from McGuirk’s Golf on September 8, 2025.

He also stole property worth €169 - a purse and a handbag - from Menarys on October 22, 2025 and boots and a drill worth €95 from BandQ on January 28, 2026.

He was also charged with further thefts from Dunnes’s Stores, Aldi, Boots, M&S, Costa, Euro Giant, Magee’s Pharmacy, Homesavers, Second Spin and Callaghan’s shop. The offending included stealing baby formula products on several occasions.

Polacek was also charged with possessing €20 worth of cocaine on June 27, 2024 and €35 worth of cocaine on September 16, 2025 while he admitted a Public Order offence at Pearse Road, Letterkenny on December 20, 2025.

Mr Frank Dorrian, solicitor for Polacek, said his client now acknowledges his wrongdoing.

Mr Dorrian told the court that Polacek was born in Romania in 1991 and is the father of three children, the youngest of whom is a year-and-a-half. He said Polacek has been in Ireland for around nine years and has been based in Donegal for around five years.

“He is a gentleman with a fairly unusual outlook,” Mr Dorrian said. “He has a very simplistic view of life. He keeps going back to the same place, committing the same offence and there is an irrational element to that.

“The events are doomed to fail, but there he finds himself with 37 charges which are unanswerable. 

“He has a very short-term view and he seems to think that when he goes home in the evening, that deals with all matters and he can start the next day with a clean slate.”

Regarding the exposure charge, Mr Dorrian said: “There is no explanation. There is no insight and the form of protest was ineffective.”

Mr Dorrian said that Polacek has been in custody since February 19 and the experience has been “frightening and harrowing.”

Polacek, whose father died in Romania in recent days and whose wife was present in court, has been sleeping on a floor in prison lately. Mr Dorrian said that, in light of his bereavement, it was suggested to Polacek that the case could be postponed, but he opted to proceed.

Mr Dorrian added: “He has been given certain legal advice from inmates and that is counter-productive to a realistic view.

“He is very fearful of a lengthy sentence. He tells me that he has, through being in prison, realised the folly of his ways, He is a man who finds himself in Ireland with very few friends and a limited family circle.”

Judge Emile Daly sentenced Polacek to a total of 20 months in prison and backdated the term to February 19 when he went into custody