Chad Christou pleaded guilty to commercial drug trafficking after Walkerville hotel raid
A drug dealer’s enterprise came undone after his girlfriend’s house was raided and he turned to running his business from a hotel room. See photos of the bust.
North & North East
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A father was caught drug dealing from a hotel room after police searched his house and found a significant amount of fantasy, as well as a loaded gun.
Chad Peter Christou, 37, will be sentenced next month after court heard he was motivated by profit during his significant enterprise.
Police attended Christou’s partner, Sanja Parenta’s Greenwith house on October 13, 2020 where they found a loaded rifle and three bottles of GBH, also known as fantasy.
A prosecutor told the District Court on Wednesday the fantasy was valued between $2740 if sold by the litre to $6850 if sold by the ml.
Police re-attended the house the following day and neither Christou or Ms Parenta were present again.
Christou used his credit card at the Walkers Arm Hotel on October 16, 2020 leading police to attend and search their hotel room two days later.
The court heard 4.36kg of fantasy located at the hotel was valued at up to $21,800 if sold by the ml.
A prosecutor told the court Christou was motivated by profit – evident by the tick lists found and him saying he was supplying the drugs to smaller drug dealers.
Christou, of Greenwith, pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm, namely a loaded rifle, commercial drug trafficking and large commercial drug trafficking.
Ms Parenta’s three drug trafficking charges were dropped on the first day of trial in February.
Julia Davey, for Christou, said her client had been in a relationship with Ms Parenta at the time of the offending.
“She was engaging in trafficking and he then began trafficking once again,” she said.
“They went to the hotel room … to avoid police detection.”
Ms Davey said Christou accepted he was the instigator of the purchase but some of the drugs were for personal use, as he was a heavy user of meth and fantasy at the time.
The court heard Christou, who was a father-of-two, had been abstinent from drugs while in custody.
Judge Michelle Sutcliffe will sentence Christou next month.
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