Clayton Daniel George Dacey pleads guilty to possessing 10K fake Xanax tablets, $67K in cash and 45 pairs of ‘high-end shoes’

He’s confessed to crimes involving 10,000 fake Xanax tablets, almost $67,000 in cash and 45 pairs of shoes – and he’s just 19 years old.

A teenage drug dealer has pleaded guilty to hoarding $10,000 fake Xanax tablets, almost $67,000 in laundered cash, and a collection of 45 “high-end shoes”.

Clayton Daniel George Dacey, 19, is the second-youngest mass drug dealer in South Australian history – and now faces a maximum 25-year prison term for his crimes.

In the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Wednesday, Dacey, of Mansfield Park, pleaded guilty to a raft of offending arising from an SA Police bust in May this year.

He had been charged with multiple drug trafficking, drug possession, money laundering and hindering police offences.

Dacey was arrested after SA Police seized 10,000 tablets labelled as Xanax, but which were later found to be the controlled and highly addictive drug Clonazolam.

The fake Xanax tablets seized from Dacey. Picture: SA Police.

At the time, police said the seized tablets were “destined for illegal sale” and “could have had catastrophic consequences for people choosing to take them”.

On Wednesday, Dacey pleaded guilty to one count of trafficking in a commercial quantity of a controlled drug, and one count of attempting to do so.

He also pleaded guilty to being in possession of $66,725 in cash, and “45 pairs of high-end shoes” that police “reasonably suspected to have been stolen” or the proceeds of crime.

The state’s chief magistrate, Judge Mary-Louise Hribal, remanded Dacey in custody to face the District Court in October, when a date for sentencing submissions will be set.

At 19, Dacey is the second-youngest person in South Australian history to face the District Court for trafficking in drugs.

In 2017, a 17-year-old known as “D” faced sentencing submissions over 1kg of ecstasy that he had mailed to his home, in two separate parcels, 12 months earlier.

SA courts have previously heard teenagers are making up to $1000 a week buying and selling drugs over the internet and through apps.

“D” told the court that children as young as 15 were making $1000 a week buying and selling ice, cannabis and ecstasy over social media and encrypted phone apps.

He received a suspended three-year prison term for his offending.

In a separate case on Wednesday, Dylan Daniel Bradwell pleaded guilty to a charge of supplying a controlled drug to a child in the northern suburbs in May.

Previously, the court heard Bradwell, 18, of Elizabeth Vale, had supplied fake Xanax to a child in state care who overdosed and was unconscious for five hours.

It also heard police were also investigating whether another two children – one of whom had links to the 13-year-old – had also overdosed on the pills

Bradwell is yet to plead to a charge of trafficking a large commercial quantity of a controlled drug over 1400 fake Xanax pills and $2765 cash allegedly found at his home.

Police allege that, while being marketed as Xanax, the drugs were “fake” and actually contained “a variety of illicit substances”.

Bradwell will face court again next month.