Alicia Bartley given suspended jail sentence for Operation Ironside meth trafficking

A mother of six who became caught up in an international crime sting was selling meth to fund her own addiction and pay off someone else’s drug debts, a judge has ruled.

A mother of six who turned to selling methamphetamine to help fund her own addiction and pay off a family member’s drug debt has been sparred jail.

Alicia Alice Bartley, 39, pleaded guilty to three counts of drug trafficking and a series of firearms offences relating to three gel blasters found at her home on June 7, 2021.

Bartley was arrested as part of Operation Ironside in which international law enforcement was monitoring encrypted AN0M phones used by the criminal underworld.

Using the handle “South Park” Bartley was sourcing methamphetamine from a series of wholesalers who were moving kilograms of the drug and then selling smaller amounts to a series of users.

Meth mum Alicia Bartley leaves the Adelaide Magistrates court after being charged as part of Operation Ironside. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Kelly Barnes

She came to the attention of police, who were targeting the larger wholesalers, through her links to a criminal syndicate moving millions of dollars of drugs from the east coast.

There were no allegations Bartley was involved in any dealing above that of a street level drug dealer and she became one of the first people in SA to be granted bail after her arrest.

Bartley at one point bragged that on a good week she was selling up to 20 ounces of methamphetamine per week – worth around $100k.

However, on Tuesday District Court Michael Burnett found that Bartley’s trafficking did not go towards a “hedonistic” lifestyle, but went to funding her own addiction and paying off a family member’s drug debt.

Casey Isaacs, for Bartley, told the court during sentencing submissions that his client suffered myriad health issues and suffered a traumatic, fraught upbringing.

When police raided her home they found 5.41g of methamphetamine and more than $11,000 cash.

The prosecution accepted that only $5730 of that money was linked to the methamphetamine trade, the rest had a legitimate origin.

“You believed there was no other way but drug dealing to pay the debt,” he said.

Judge Burnett accepted both Bartley’s background and also the conclusion of a specialist report which found she was unlikely to offend in the community if released.

Bartley was on home detention for two years and kicked her methamphetamine addiction cold turkey, remaining drug free.

Judge Burnett sentenced Bartley to a combined four years, five months and 24 days in custody with a non-parole period of two years, one month and 30 days.

He ruled that the offending was too serious to suspend the sentence.

However, taking into account Bartley’s traumatic upbringing, health issues and children who were reliant on her care, he ordered the sentence be served on home detention.