Burner phone found hidden in stereo in alleged teen drug trafficker’s bedroom

After police arrested suspected drug runner Zarcody Sims following a raid in Highfields, the young woman applied for bail before the Toowoomba court.

Toowoomba woman Zarcody Sims.

A young Toowoomba woman accused of trafficking methamphetamine with her grandmother has again been arrested by police for breaching her bail conditions.

Police arrested Zarcody Jane Sims on Wednesday, July 23, after executing a search warrant at a home south of Highfields.

On Friday, July 25, Toowoomba Magistrates Court was told police charged the 19-year-old with breaching her bail conditions after they found a charged phone concealed inside a speaker in her bedroom.

Police prosecutor William Shin said Sims entered into a bail undertaking a year ago, which prohibited her from owning more than one phone, which also required police to have the PIN code.

Mr Shin said during the raid she was asked to hand over her phone, which she did, however claimed she had never seen the other phone before.

“(She) was not able to provide police with details of any person who may have owned the phone,” he said.

In February 2024, police executed a search warrant at Highfields and seized an estimated 30g of meth and about $26,000 in cash. They then took the owner of the house, 71-year-old Gloria Marie Sims, and her 18-year-old granddaughter Zarcody Sims, into custody. Those charges are now before the District courrt.

“Of note, police located a further (third) phone, (which she) claimed to be her partners.

“However, that phone has been cleared, and this (claim) was unable to be confirmed.”

The court was told Sims had a three-page criminal history.

She was arrested in October 2024 for similar offending, with police uncovering three phones during a raid of the same address.

Sims refused to provide her PIN, claiming she had “intimate pictures” on the device. She also claimed one of the phones was her partner’s.

On that occasion no convictions were recorded, and she was sentenced to a three-year jail term, suspended for 12 months, for breaching bail conditions and contravening an order necessary to access information stored electronically.

After spending two nights in the watch-house, Sims pleaded guilty to breaching her bail conditions and two charges of receiving tainted property.

However, the sentence hearing was briefly adjourned so more details could be provided from the arresting officer, as to whether or not Sims contravened police orders by not granting them access to the phone in the speaker.

When the matter resumed, Mr Shin said he had no response to his inquiry as the arresting officer who was only six minutes into his shift.

He said, upon reviewing the facts a second time, it may have been the case that Ms Sims wasn’t in a position to provide police with the PIN code given her statements.

“It says in the facts here, from the outset she says it’s not her phone,” he said.

Sims mother, Michelle Lousie Sims was sentenced to three years in jail for trafficking in dangerous drugs on December 14, 2021.

Acting as duty lawyer, solicitor Paige Hetherington said the plea was only on the basis that she had more than one phone.

“It’s accepted that obviously what she’s said to police was dishonest, in that she didn’t possess a second phone, but that is the extent of the charge with respect to the breach of bail,” she said.

She said given Sims had spent two nights in jail, entered an early plea, and had a disadvantaged upbringing, that a probation order was an appropriate sentence.

The court heard Sims completed a parole order a few months ago, however she was subject to another probation which ends in August 2026.

Magistrate Michelle Dooley said she was minded to put Sims back on a parole order with a jail term to hang over her head.

Sims was sentenced to a three-month jail term with immediate release on parole.

Convictions were recorded.

Sims’ serious drug charges from the drug raid in early 2024 are before the Toowoomba District Court.

The then 18-year-old was charged alongside her grandmother Gloria Marie Sims with a range of offences including trafficking, supplying dangerous drugs, possessing restricted medicines and receiving property obtained from trafficking from supplying dangerous drugs.

Gloria Sims’ charges are also before the higher courts.

No pleas have been entered in relation to the offences.

Originally published as Burner phone found hidden in stereo in alleged teen drug trafficker’s bedroom