15 Far North drug dealers exposed and named
Regardless of how many people get locked away for dealing drugs, there’s a constant appetite for mind-altering substances in the Far North. Here are some of the drug traffickers to most recently wind up in the dock in the Cairns courthouse.
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From kingpins at the head of methylamphetamine supply networks with tentacles stretching interstate to two cousins who were slinging bags of cocaine among the heaving Cairns party scene, here are Cairns’ latest drug traffickers to face court.
These traffickers have dealt drugs across the Far North from cocaine, MDMA and methylamphetamine.
Here are some of the ones who got caught.
JOEL ANTHONY ZUTT AND MASON JOHN STEPHENS
Cousins Joel Anthony Zutt, 23, and Mason John Stephens, 21, came to the attention of authorities when they called Bungalow Post Office one after the other asking about one of their missing drug shipments.
The pair both pleaded guilty to trafficking cocaine and MDA in the Cairns Supreme Court in September.
Australia Border Force officials seized two parcels that were meant for Zutt under a fake name.
One parcel contained two ounces of cocaine and the other had half an ounce of cocaine, LSD, and a separate gram of cocaine.
Crown prosecutor Tegan Grasso said between October 2020 and April 2021, just over $72,600 was placed in a CoinSpot account, with $72,411 transferred out as payment for drugs.
Justice Jim Henry sentenced Stephens to four years imprisonment, with parole eligibility after nine months taking into account his lack of criminal history, early plea of guilty, youth, rehabilitative inroads and letter to the court acknowledging his regret.
Zutt’s lawyer Brydie Bilic tendered references and said he had strong prospects of rehabilitation.
Justice Henry sentenced him to four years imprisonment with parole eligibility after a year.
JAYDE ANN DAWSON
Jayde Ann Dawson, 35, was jailed after she trafficked methylamphetamine while pregnant and on bail for other drug charges.
She pleaded guilty to one count of trafficking in the Cairns Supreme Court when arraigned in March this year, and was sentenced in July.
Crown prosecutor Christian Peters told the court Dawson trafficked street level quantities of the drug from late January to March 2020, and from June to September 2020.
Mr Peters said text messages on her phone showed she sourced methylamphetamine in large amounts from at least eight different suppliers, breaking it down into smaller quantities and selling to her customer base of at least 35 people.
Defence barrister Tim Grau said Dawson’s drug usage started after a traumatic event.
He said she stopped using while she was pregnant with her fifth child but trafficked among her friend group.
“She has done significant rehabilitation that a parole release date of today is in my submission appropriate and in range,” Mr Grau said.
Justice Jim Henry sentenced her to two and a half years imprisonment with a parole release date after six months.
Dawson cried after the court was adjourned.
GREGORY PETER BETTS
Gregory Peter Betts, 47, flooded Cairns with more than half a kilo of ice between December 2019 and March 2020.
He pleaded guilty to trafficking methylamphetamine and a number of other drugs charges, as well as attempting to pervert the course of justice in the Cairns Supreme Court in June.
Betts was previously sentenced to nine years for trafficking ice in 2012.
He was only four months out of prison and on parole from being sentenced in February 2019 for possessing methylamphetamine when his trafficking operation began.
“This was someone who knew very well what the consequences of his actions would be and his conduct in my submission was cynically commercial, given … the sophistication with which he organised the business,” Crown prosecutor Nathan Crane said.
The court heard Betts’ employees would fly to Brisbane with large amounts of cash before packages of methylamphetamine would be posted to others.
Mr Crane said Betts paid in excess of $100,000 for methylamphetamine on 10 occasions, and another eight cases where police couldn’t determine the drug amount sourced.
Chief Justice Helen Bowskill sentenced him to nine years and nine months imprisonment, to be served cumulatively with 12 months imprisonment for attempting to pervert the course of justice.
Chief Justice Bowskill said the total amount Betts trafficked could have been around the 850g mark.
Betts will be eligible for parole on June 15, 2028.
JOHNATHON JOSEPH GRIMWADE
Jonathon Joseph Grimwade, 29 was an employee of Betts’ methylamphetamine trafficking ring for three months from December 19, 2019.
He pleaded guilty to two counts of drug trafficking and a number of summary offences in the Cairns Supreme Court in September last year.
Betts rented a shed in Portsmith, setting it up as a legitimate workshop with cars at the front, and would direct customers to the shed where Grimwade facilitated deals.
Crown prosecutor Tegan Grasso told the court on one occasion Grimwade flew from Cairns to Brisbane with $17,500 in cash strapped to his body.
The court was told he had a falling out with his boss on March 11, 2020 and moved out of the shed.
It was then that his second trafficking business began, supplying quantities of ice ranging up to about one gram.
Defence barrister Brydie Bilic described her client as a “relatively young man” who had “spiralled deep” into a methylamphetamine addiction.
Justice Jim Henry in September 2021 sentenced Grimwade to four and a half years imprisonment, suspended immediately, taking into account 429 days served in pre-sentence custody.
THOMAS LEONARD PETER FINES-FROST
Also part of Betts’ trafficking ring, Thomas Leonard Peter Fines-Frost, 27, posted packages of methylamphetamine to Cairns, selling quantities from half an ounce to six ounces.
Fines-Frost pleaded guilty to trafficking over a seven month period between November 2019 and August 2020 in the Cairns Supreme Court in March and was sentenced to eight and a half years imprisonment.
He will be eligible for parole on September 28, 2024.
The court heard Fines-Frost would use encrypted messaging apps like Wickr and had four different usernames, customers would sometimes post money to him or he would have them deposit money into his account.
In total, Fines-Frost received some $255,341 worth of deposits, with about $100,000 of that amount passing through his housemate in Victoria, 27-year-old Christopher Mark Woolley’s account.
“Whichever way you come at it, in other words, this was a significant volume of wholesale methylamphetamine that was being pumped into the Cairns community,” Justice Jim Henry said.
JOEL ANTHONY OLM
Former Cairns man and Brisbane-based criminal Joel Anthony Olm supplied substantial amounts of methylamphetamine to Greg Betts in Cairns.
Olm pleaded guilty in the Cairns Supreme Court on August 24, 2021 to trafficking and knowingly having possession of dangerous things with intent to use them to commit a crime, and was sentenced to seven years imprisonment, cumulative upon the serving out of his earlier five-and-a-half-year sentence for armed robbery.
At one stage he even offered to supply Betts with 10 ounces for $28,000.
The court heard he lived a dysfunctional childhood, which included sexual abuse.
LAUREN LINDA MADDIGAN
Lauren Linda Maddigan, 38, a former social worker, said she formed an addiction that eventually led her to become a drug trafficker after she was forced illicit drugs in her sleep.
She pleaded guilty to one count of trafficking methylamphetamine between July 3 and September 1, 2020, as well as one count of possessing methylamphetamine, cannabis and diazepam in Cairns District Court in March.
“The appalling treatment you endured would occasion sympathy in the mind of any right thinking person but I do not lose sight of the reality that you did not in fact commit the offending during that era, rather you committed subsequently,” Justice Jim Henry said.
“The cause or connection with that earlier era and your mistreatment and the offending for which you fall to be sentenced is effectively an indirect one in the sense that apart for effectively causing infliction or habit upon you, you would not have gotten in that drug use.”
Justice Henry sentenced Maddigan to three years imprisonment with a parole date of August 24, 2022 after she had already spent 97 days in pre-sentence custody.
CONNOR HAMILTON MCLEOD
Connor Hamilton McLeod, 27, was talked into selling drugs after he ordered a limited amount of pills and received about 250g of MDMA, a court heard.
He pleaded guilty to one count of possessing dangerous drugs and one count of trafficking dangerous drugs in the Cairns Supreme Court in October.
Crown prosecutor Seamus McManus said police found 121 clip seal bags holding one capsule each of MDMA, 29 clip seal bags with MDMA in crystal form, 200 empty clip seal bags, and a compressed block of MDMA weighing about 244g.
Defence barrister Martin Longhurst said his client embarked down a rabbit hole.
“With respect to the facts, my client ordered a limited amount of pills, then he received a quantity of about 250g of MDMA that he had discussed with the supplier, the oversupply,” he said.
“He was talked into the benefits of being able to sell the pills and retain some profit.”
Given his lack of prior criminal history and a psychiatric report, Justice Henry sentenced McLeod to three years imprisonment with an immediate parole release date.
ROGER WILLIAM GRIFFITH
The former boss of Cairns’ Department of Public Prosecutions, Roger William Griffith, pleaded guilty last year to counts of drug trafficking, attempting to pervert justice, money laundering and receiving property from drug trafficking.
Griffith became involved in a Far North drug ring after working as a lawyer for the head of the syndicate Zane Rene Cook.
Cook was later sentenced to nine-and-a-half years jail.
The court heard Griffith aided the trafficking by giving the team advice.
“The plan included burying shipping containers, setting up a hydroponic system and putting goats on the farm as a distraction,” crown prosecutor Sarah Farnden said.
Defence barrister Stephen Zillman said Griffith’s involvement wasn’t extensive.
“He was more limited to giving advices rather than taking proactive steps,” he said.
The court heard his property was searched in November 2017 and $23,000 was found in his wife’s handbag.
Judge Suzanne Sheridan sentenced Griffith to five years.
REECE WILLIAM LUSCOMBE
Reece William Luscombe, 32, was in control more than one kilogram of pure methylamphetamine when he trafficked drugs for six months between 2019 and 2020, a court heard.
Luscombe was a main target of Operation Romeo Suitcase, with allegations the drug network extended from Gold Coast to Cairns and had links to the Finks Outlaw Motorcycle Gang.
He pleaded guilty to trafficking between September 30, 2019 and March 30, 2020, aggravated drug possession, possessing cash, category H weapons and drug-related items at Mackay Supreme Court in March.
Crown prosecutor Eddie Coker said money and drugs were kept at his home and he organised people to pick them up from his house.
Defence barrister Angus Edwards said Luscombe completed a certificate two in business and sports and recreation, had a job offer upon release and did two drug courses.
He was sentenced to nine years and will be eligible for parole on August 15, 2023
GLENN RAYMOND SMITH
Cairns labourer Glenn Raymond Smith was sentenced to nine years imprisonment after his wholesale drug trafficking operation was busted with $225,000 worth of cocaine.
Glenn Raymond Smith, 57, appeared in Cairns Supreme Court for sentencing over four counts of dangerous drug possession and one count each of drug trafficking, possessing anything used in connection with a crime and property suspected of being proceeds of an offence.
Police seized about 740g of cocaine, with a street value of about $225,000, along with about 340g of methylamphetamine, worth about $190,000, along with 28g of MDMA.
Defence barrister James Sheridan said his client had anxiety, depression and claustrophobia and had been on bail since January last year.
“He accepts that he obviously made a profit from the operation, but in fact, the seizure of the cash and the drugs he had reinvested in has really left him with no outward financial benefit,” he said.
“There were life challenges he was exposed to as a younger man, whereby his mother was a long-term alcoholic and his father was a strict disciplinarian … but that did not stop him from being otherwise a responsible member of the community.”
Prosecutor Tegan Grasso said the operation “had some level of sophistication” and that police surveillance recorded Mr Smith, a labourer, as saying it was “easy money” and bragging about profits.
WAYNE PETER STAPLETON
Port Douglas businessman Wayne Peter Stapleton, 56, was jailed for trafficking meth over a three-month period in 2018 and 2019 after his life spiralled into uncontrollable drug use.
He pleaded guilty to drug trafficking in the Cairns Supreme Court in November 2021.
“You are spreading the misery caused by methamphetamines. How would you feel if someone was selling it to your boys?” Justice Susan Brown said.
He was jailed for 15 months to be released without having to apply for parole.
“You have every incentive to make sure this is a dark patch of your life you have put away,” she said.
GAETANO ANTONIO DEL GIGLIO
Drug trafficker Gaetano Antonio Del Giglio couriered 350 pounds of cannabis from South Australia to his Sheridan Street restaurant Fasta Pasta turning over about $1.2m.
Del Giglio pleaded guilty to one count of trafficking, one count of burglary in company with property damage, dealing with the proceeds of crime – $100,000 or more, as well as four counts of supplying cocaine and attempting to pervert the course of justice in Cairns District Court late last year.
Between January and November 2017, 39 consignments were delivered to Fasta Pasta.
Judge Tracy Fantin sentenced him to eight and a half years jail, and she set a parole eligibility date of May 26, 2022.
In June he was pictured spending time out in the water after being released on parole.
JOHN DURHAM WILLEY
John Durham Willey’s drug trafficking enterprise starting crumbling when his business partner Phillip William Walpole was caught up in a traffic intercept in May 2020, losing a pound of methylamphetamine and $2450 cash.
Despite the intercept it didn’t deter Willey from dealing.
Willey, 39, pleaded guilty to trafficking methylamphetamine and cannabis, and refusing to hand over the pin code to his mobile phone at Cairns Supreme Court in February.
Both business partners phones were tapped by police during Operation Sierra Footrope from May 19.
On June 13, police overheard that his business partner, Walpole, was going to fly from Townsville to Brisbane.
Walpole was arrested at Brisbane Airport with $84,100 cryo-vacced, on his person.
Walpole was sentenced in March 2022 to six years and six months imprisonment, with a parole eligibility date of December 20.
Even after the intervention by police, Willey continued trafficking and was arrested two months later on August 21,2020.
The court heard Willey trafficked methylamphetamine across a five month period in amounts from a point to a ball – 3.5g of meth.
The court heard he began consuming methylamphetamine at the age of 14.
While serving 546 days in pre-sentence custody, he had conducted himself productively, Justice Jim Henry said.
Willey received a head sentence of seven years, with a parole eligibility date of December 20, 2022.
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