Ben James Friske pleads guilty at Gympie court to 78 charges

A man convicted of drug dealing is on his way back for resentencing only two months later after facing a lower court on dozens of other offences he committed.

A convicted Curra drug dealer Ben James Friske is headed back to the District Court for resentencing only two months after his last appearance after learning his fate on 78 other offences he committed across three years.

A convicted Curra drug dealer is headed back to the District Court for resentencing only two months after his last appearance upon learning his fate on 78 other offences he committed across three years.

Ben James Friske was recommitted to the higher court on Tuesday after pleading guilty to the string of offences at Gympie Magistrates Court, carried out between March 2022 and June 2025.

The most serious was his taking possession of a Polaris all-terrain vehicle which had been stolen by an unidentified third party.

His offending also included 45 counts of calling an approved phone number while in custody and then asking to be put on the line with someone else, two other counts of receiving tainted or stolen property, and individual counts of possessing dangerous drugs, unlawfully possessing a weapon, possessing ammunition without permission, possessing drug utensils, unlawful possession of a motor vehicle, driving with a drug in his system, and driving without a licence.

Friske also breached his bail 23 times.

A convicted Curra drug dealer Ben James Friske is headed back to the District Court for resentencing only two months after his last appearance after learning his fate on 78 other offences he committed across three years.

The court heard 16 of these were caused by his failure to charge an electronic ankle monitor.

The extent of his offending was tendered to the court in a 49 page-long sentencing schedule.

This was in addition to an eight page criminal history, and four page traffic history.

Magistrate Bevan Hughes told Friske it was time for him to “grow up”.

“If you keep coming back to court you can expect to spend more time in prison,” Mr Hughes said.

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Magistrate Bevan Hughes referred Friske back to the District Court for resentencing for convictions on drug dealing and attempting to pervert the course of justice heard in the higher court in April, 2025.

He fined Friske $1500 for the bail breaches, suspended him from driving for one month, and declined to further punish the 35-year-old as he had already spent 333 days in pre-sentence custody.

Mr Hughes then referred Friske back to the District Court for resentencing for convictions on drug dealing and attempting to pervert the course of justice heard in the higher court in April, 2025.

Friske was sentenced to two years’ jail in the court, with the entire sentence suspended for three years.

Originally published as Ben James Friske pleads guilty at Gympie court to 78 charges