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# NZ Cop Steals Police-Issued Firearm
- URL: https://goodoil.news/nz-cop-steals-police-issued-firearm/
- Published: 2026-10-21T23:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-21T22:59:59.000Z
- Description: Karehana was given $5,000 that evening, and the court heard that he claimed he “did not know that his associate was going to on-sell the weapon”. When the Glock was recovered in June, Karehana was spoken to by police but denied stealing the gun.
- Author: Reproduced with permission
- Tags: NZ Politics, Police, Crime

[**The Noticer**](https://www.noticer.news/maori-new-zealand-police-office-steals-gun/?ref=goodoil.news)

A face-tattooed [M](https://www.noticer.news/maori-charged-brisbane-brookfield-attack/?ref=goodoil.news)[āori](https://www.noticer.news/maori-charged-brisbane-brookfield-attack/?ref=goodoil.news) cop who was once promoted as a recruitment success story has admitted stealing a [New Zealand Police](https://www.noticer.news/new-zealand-police-bow-sikh-temple/?ref=goodoil.news) handgun and selling it to a criminal associate for $5,000.

Steven John Karehana, 42, starred in a YouTube series called *Ride Along*, where he revealed he had been repeated rejected from the force due to a criminal charge from his youth, and talked about wanting to be a “role model” for young Māori and inspire them to join the police.

Karehana appeared in Whanganui District Court on Tuesday, where he pleaded guilty to stealing a police-issued firearm and being in unlawful possession of a police-issued firearm, and a suppression order preventing his name from being published was lifted, [*the* New Zealand Herald](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/ex-cop-steven-karehana-admits-stealing-a-police-issued-glock-in-whanganui/VQBZMEJJNJCZ7BDZLY3HKS2ONQ/?ref=goodoil.news) reported.

The court heard a March audit of police firearms in the Central District policing area in Whanganui confirmed that a Glock worth NZ$1,204 had been stolen on February 11 this year.

Karehana, who had asked an associate if they could “get rid of a gun” if he could obtain one, took two Glocks and two M4 rifles from the gun safe at Whanganui Police Station and put them in lockboxes in a police car, and travelled with a colleague to a site where his team was based.

That afternoon he returned to the station alone, took a Glock from the gun safe, and put it in his backpack. He then gave the firearm to his associate, who sold it to another person for $10,000 in cash.

Karehana was given $5,000 that evening, and the court heard that he claimed he “did not know that his associate was going to on-sell the weapon”.

When the Glock was recovered in June, Karehana was spoken to by police but denied stealing the gun.

During an episode of the *Ride Along* series, which has since been removed from the internet, Karehana spoke about joining the police in 2023 as an older recruit.

“So I first applied in 2003, and I was denied because of what had happened in my youth, and I applied probably every five years after that until I got a job as a painter, and I stayed in that job for 16 years,” he said.

“It wasn’t until I went and worked for my iwi, and through that journey, it reignited the love and passion for my community and my people.”

He said in a different recruitment campaign that the rejection was for a criminal charge for which he was given a diversion.

Karehana was granted bail with conditions, including that he surrender his passport, and will be sentenced on December 4.

This article was originally published by [the Noticer](https://www.noticer.news/maori-new-zealand-police-office-steals-gun/?ref=goodoil.news).