SA court suspends jail terms of Nicola Jay Vermey, Alexandra Rodriguez and Sarah Louise Mudge for ecstasy trafficking
THREE nightclubbing friends who turned their social lives into an ecstasy trafficking ring have been spared jail — and a judge has warned them not to waste their second chance by “flogging drugs”.
- SENTENCINGS: Courts go soft on dirty ecstasy dealers
- GRIEF: “Please de careful, I can’t afford to bury you”
- SCOURGE: Ecstasy as cheap as a pint of beer in SA
- JUDGE WARNS: Dealers must know how serious this is
FOR Nicola Jay Vermey, Alexandra Rodriguez and Sarah Louise Mudge, Fridays at the Red Square nightclub were not about drinks and socialising, but drugs and profit.
Between November 2014 and March 2015, the trio ran an ecstasy-trafficking scheme that sourced its clients among the Hindley St venue’s revellers.
However, their biggest sales — 118 pills worth $2815 — were to the undercover SA Police officers who arrested them and put them out of business.
On Monday, Vermey, Rodriguez and Mudge fought back tears as the District Court jailed each of them for 14 months.
Judge Paul Cuthbertson agreed to suspend those terms and give the trio a chance to mend their ways — but warned any further offending would likely land them in a cell.
“The fact of the matter is you were willing accomplices in the provision of illicit drugs,” he said.
“You well know MDMA is a source of great concern, yet you were prepared to run the risk of getting caught engaging in this activity notwithstanding the harm it causes the community.
“I suggest you find something better to do with your lives than flogging drugs in the city.”
Vermey, 19, Rodriguez, 21, and Mudge, 24, each pleaded guilty to counts of trafficking in a controlled drug in a prescribed area.
In November 2014, an undercover police officer approached Mudge and Rodriguez inside Red Square asking for pills.
Mudge sold them a pack of 10 and, in the weeks that followed, met the officer on two further occasions to sell an additional 60 tablets.
Rodriguez, meanwhile, referred the officer to Vermey and assisted in the sale of four pills.
She would go on to sell the officer capsules of precursor, a chemical needed to make drugs, and an additional 34 MDMA tablets.
Vermey met the officer just once more, selling them 10 tablets, before she was caught outside Red Square with plastic bags containing a total of 50 tablets.
In sentencing, Judge Cuthbertson said the trio were friends who shared “a social circle”, but had different motivations for offending.
“Vermey, there is no doubt you were in the business of selling these tablets for a profit,” he said.
“Mudge, your involvement was helping a friend by acting as a go-between ... you received no profit but received drugs yourself for a cheaper price.
“Rodriguez, you have a significant addiction to drugs, and your benefit was you would obtain tablets for your own use.”
He ordered Vermey and Rodriguez serve 200 hours of community service in the next two years but spared Mudge that condition on account of her pregnancy.