Peter Jon Granzien sentenced at Gladstone for drug offending spree

A former Central Queensland drug dealer who couldn’t kick his meth addiction has been sentenced for a three-year offence spree after a dramatic police raid at his home.

Peter Jon Granzien was sentenced in Gladstone Magistrates Court.

Details of a dramatic police raid at a former drug trafficker’s Central Queensland home, have been heard during his sentencing for a three-year drug offending spree.

Peter Jon Granzien, 45, pleaded guilty in Gladstone Magistrates Court to 24 charges including numerous counts of possessing dangerous drugs and other drug related offences, two counts of drink driving, and multiple counts of unlicensed driving.

The court heard Granzien’s offending happened between August 2021 and April this year.

It was told during a search warrant police executed at a Gladstone residence, there was a “delay” in getting inside because the occupants would not open the door.

“As a result, police used a sledgehammer to force entry,” police prosecutor Jennifer Leach said.

“And on entering the residence (Granzien) was observed coming from the direction of the toilet while his partner was sitting on the lounge.”

Ms Leach said in the toilet, police found a plastic container with crystal residue as well as “crystal on the ground, around the toilet and on toilet seat.”

“Clearly indicates (Granzien) attempted to dispose of the drugs, however there was sufficient crystal that police were able to recover,” the prosecutor said.

The court heard police recovered .7g of methamphetamine.

“Further, throughout the residence several clip-seal bags were located - some were what we call wash bags, containing more residue,” Ms Leach said.

“And police located two digital scales, one of which had some crystal residue.”

On a table, police also found 3.25g of cannabis, a bong and two glass meth pipes.

Peter Jon Granzien.

On another day, Granzien was a passenger in a vehicle at Tannum Sands when police caught him with two joints of cannabis which Granzien said he had rolled himself.

During another search warrant executed at a Gladstone residence, Granzien was caught with 2.391g of pure meth, telling police he was “addicted to methamphetamine and had just returned home from rehabilitation.”

Police also found numerous drug items and a bowl containing cannabis.

In relation to one of the unlicensed driving offences, the court heard Granzien crashed a car into a tree on Sun Valley Road, Gladstone.

He was taken to Gladstone Hospital where staff there notified police that Granzien was concealing items in his underwear.

A bag in Granzien’s underwear contained 137g of cannabis and he also had $5338 cash in a pocket which police suspected was proceeds of drug crime, the court heard.

Later the same day, police executed a search warrant at Granzien’s residence where they found 3.37g of cannabis “scattered across his bedroom floor.”

Another 4.3g of cannabis was found in a container, and a further 55.1g of cannabis was in a clip-seal bag.

The prosecution tendered a document which showed Granzien had been caught with a total of 3.195g of meth (purity 2.391g) during the offending period.

Granzien had a seven-page criminal history which included previous drug offending including trafficking and a nine-page traffic history.

Solicitor Cassandra Ditchfield tendered documents to the court which showed Granzien had been undertaking drug rehabilitation.

“I’ll explain what’s been going on in his world that has led to some of this (offending) but the long and the short of it is, the difficulty for him is drugs,” Ms Ditchfield said.

“He’s struggled with it for a significant period of time... it’s realistically been a problem for him throughout most of his adult life.

“He will do well for a period... unfortunately the reality is, that when things have cropped up for him, he goes back to old habits and old coping mechanisms.”

Ms Ditchfield said Granzien had previously received a $100,000 trauma payout and there had been ongoing effects from that trauma, and he also suffered from a social phobia.

“This has affected his ability to work and to complete his driving test... he’s never been on anything other than a learner’s permit.”

In July, Magistrate Mary Buchanan sentenced Granzien to 15 months’ jail with immediate parole.

She also fined him $2500 and disqualified him from driving for 28 months (that total could be reduced with some periods possibly concurrent).

A forfeiture order was made for the $5338 cash.

Convictions were recorded.