Young man’s drug business funded Thai trip, living expenses

He made enough money from selling drugs to cover his living expenses and fund a trip to Thailand.

Arron David Flanders pleaded guilty in Bundaberg Supreme Court to trafficking marijuana and supplying LSD. Photo: Social Media

A young man made enough profit from his drug business to cover his living expenses and fund a trip to Thailand, but things came undone when police searched his home.

Arron David Flanders, 24, pleaded guilty in Bundaberg Supreme Court on Thursday to one count of drug trafficking and six counts of supplying a dangerous drug.

Police searched the shed Flanders was living in on his father's Apple Tree Creek property on December 6 in 2019.

During the search police found a phone on the couch, with analysis later uncovering text messages revealing the device belonged to Flanders and that he was trafficking marijuana.

68 grams of marijuana was found in the shed as well as three LSD tabs, grinders and scales.

Flanders admitted to living in the shed but told officers other people stayed there all the time and denied the items found belonged to him.

He told the officers he used the scales to weigh meat as he was on a diet.

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Flanders told officers that the phone found on the couch may have been one of his old ones.

The trafficking happened between September and December 2019, a period of three months.

Flanders was supplying customers with marijuana in street level and some wholesale amounts, as well as LSD to two of his clients on six occasions.

He contacted them using the phone's messaging app and also through Snapchat and through messaging app Wickr.

The marijuana sourced was both hydroponic and naturally grown and came from local and non-local sources.

The messages on the phone found at least 100 instances where marijuana was supplied to a customer base of at least 15 people.

The court heard messages also showed Flanders' intention to extend into other drugs with one customer asking him to supply MDMA and another asked for cocaine, but he was unable to get them.

Flanders' customers would meet him at his home or at an agreed location.

The court heard he also had in place an "honesty box" for his customers to pick up and pay for their drugs when he wasn't home.

Crown prosecutor Mark Whitbread told the court while it couldn't be determined how much profit Flanders made from the drug trade, he'd earned enough to cover his living expenses and fund a four week holiday to Thailand.

Flanders' barrister James Godbolt told the court his client's drug use escalated in 2019 after a close friend took his own life, which had followed the death of his brother in the same way in 2012.

Mr Godbolt said Flanders struggled to cope with the loss and turned to marijuana, LSD and alcohol.

He said at the time of the offending Flanders had been working on an avocado farm but the trafficking happened in the off season.

Mr Godbolt said Flanders had now removed himself from the drug scene he was in, gained a new full-time job and was "making a real and genuine attempt at rehabilitation".

The court heard Flanders had only one entry on his criminal history but a conviction was not recorded at the time.

Justice Graeme Crow took into account Flanders' plea of guilty and limited criminal history when considering his sentence.

Justice Crow told Flanders that if he had succeeded in getting the MDMA and cocaine he would be going to jail.

"The principal trafficking is marijuana, and marijuana at this time and in this state is illegal," he said.

"It can't be accepted to be a harmless drug.

"In particular, with respect to that drug, a number of young people who take it get addicted to it to such an extent they drop out of school, their apprenticeships, their jobs and many of them go down the path towards methamphetamine.

"I haven't seen anyone addicted to methamphetamine who didn't start with marijuana … even marijuana can be ruinous of a person's life."

Justice Crow said against Flanders was the attempted sophistication of his offending and also lying to the police.

In Flanders' favour was his early guilty plea and steps towards rehabilitation.

Flanders was sentenced to three years imprisonment with an immediate parole release.

A serious offending certificate was also issued.

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Originally published as Young man’s drug business funded Thai trip, living expenses