These boots are made for ...

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A former worker at the Royal Australian Mint has pleaded guilty to stealing thousands of dollars from his employer by regularly hiding two-dollar coins in his shoes and walking out of the building.

Prosecutors allege 48-year-old William Bosia Grzeskowiak stole more than 155,000 dollars (112,580 US) from the Canberra mint between April 2005 and February 2006.

Coining hall worker Grzeskowiak literally walked out with about 600 dollars each time by secreting the two-dollar coins in his boots, and sometimes his lunchbox, under the eyes of watchful security guards, they said.

He admitted the theft charge but his lawyers said he would dispute the amount stolen during sentencing hearings later this month.

Grzeskowiak was arrested in southern Victoria state in February after he tried to change a large number of two-dollar coins for notes.

Police said they found more than 100,000 dollars in coins hidden in his mother's garage, and estimate more than 23,000 dollars had been converted into other forms of cash by the time of the arrest.