7 drug dealing mums and dads busted in the Gympie region
From a dad who paid his babysitter in drugs to a mum who racked up 12 charges of supplying drugs, these criminal parents have been caught supplying drugs in the Gympie region.
Gympie
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Gympie courts have presided over multiple cases where drug dealers have been caught in the act in recent months.
Some of these local drug dealers also happened to be parents, expected by society to set a good example.
But, from a dad who paid his babysitter in drugs instead of cash, to a mum who racked up 12 charges of supplying drugs, these parents are doing anything but the right thing in perpetuating the cycle of drug abuse in the Gympie region.
1. Mum pleads guilty to dealing meth
A small time meth dealer and mother avoided actual jail time for organising multiple sales of meth over the course of a week, including one while waiting at court to deal with charges stemming from her own drug use.
Caloundra‘s Jodie Knowles, 51, pleaded guilty in the Gympie District Court in March, 2021, to distributing between 0.1g and 0.5g of methamphetamine to five different people over an eight day stretch from January 15-22, last year.
She made more than $500 from the deals, the court heard.
The judge sentenced her to 20 months jail with immediate parole, and warned her any further crimes committed in that time would put her behind bars.
2. Amamoor dad an ‘example of how meth destroys lives’
A 35-year-old Amamoor father and former businessman was called a “living example” of how meth destroyed lives while being sentenced to jail for a range of drug offences in April, 2021.
Andrew William Donney appeared by video in Gympie District Court to plead guilty to more than a dozen charges, including supplying and possessing methamphetamine, possessing explosives without authority and unlawful possession of a weapon.
He was supported in the courtroom by his family, who sat and listened as Judge Jennifer Rosengren detailed his downward spiral into drug abuse after his father took his own life in 2015.
Donney was sentenced to six months in jail; he will be eligible for parole at the end of May.
3. Druggie mum supplied drugs, stole car and money
A 24-year-old Gympie mother with a history of drug-related crimes, racked up a total of 28 charges including 12 counts of supplying drugs and 16 other charges, including stealing petrol and possessing syringes.
Tamika Geiger appeared by video in Gympie District Court in February, 2021, while remanded in custody and pleaded guilty to all charges.
In late 2019 and early 2020, Geiger committed multiple offences throughout Gympie, including unlawfully using a motor vehicle, driving off with petrol five times, stealing money, failing to stop for police, driving without a licence having never held one, failing to dispose of two syringes and possessing a pipe.
Then on January 14, 2020, police searched Geiger‘s home and seized her mobile phone.
Crown prosecutor Aleksandra Nikolic told the Gympie District Court messages on the phone revealed 12 occasions where Geiger offered to supply dangerous drugs to others.
Having already been in custody for six months, Judge Glen Cash ordered Geiger be released on probation for two years, once her outstanding matter was dealt with in the Magistrates Court.
4. Drug dealer mum busted selling meth and weed
A middle-aged Gympie mother was told she had “a longstanding problem with drug abuse” after being caught dealing meth and weed a number of times between 2019 and 2020.
Leanne Margaret MacGregor, 44, was detected selling or attempting to sell various quantities of the two drugs on five occasions as police investigated someone else suspected of drug dealing, the Gympie District Court heard in November, 2020.
Investigations of a man suspected of drug dealing led police to investigate his phone, and from there they found text messages involving MacGregor.
The messages revealed MacGregor had supplied drugs to him and had also made arrangements that ultimately didn’t go ahead, the court heard.
One of MacGregor’s deals involved 7g of cannabis and 1.7g of meth provided to the man for $430, another involved 2g of meth amounting to $320 and another totalling 1.75g of meth.
MacGregor was given a head sentence of 18 months’ jail but was released immediately on parole, where she will have to undergo regular drug testing.
5. Toddlers' teenage babysitter 'paid in ice'
A reckless man gave his 15-year-old niece ice before leaving her to babysit his two very young children, the Gympie court heard.
The 32-year-old former Gympie man, who cannot be named, pleaded guilty in the Brisbane Supreme Court to supplying his niece and her 18-year-old friend with ice.
The court was told the man offered to give his niece a small amount of money in exchange for babysitting his children, but the teenage girl asked for a small amount of ice instead.
6. Drug supplier jailed, warned 'you will see an early grave'
A young Gympie father was convicted in the Gympie District Court of multiple offences stemming from a destructive drug addiction.
Michael Ethan Dan, 27, has been in jail on remand since police searched his home and his father's home on January 31, this year, and found dangerous drugs, evidence he was producing and supplying dangerous drugs, and explosives.
He also pleaded guilty in November 2020, to three counts of break and enter and stealing, involving $30,000 in stolen property from late last year.
7. Meth-supplier mum halted court with medical emergency
A mum who supplied dangerous drugs to her friends and for herself was half an hour late for her sentencing in Gympie District Court in April 2020, and then suffered such severe chest pain half way through her appearance the court had to be adjourned.
Kara-Lea Mayfield, then 26, pleaded guilty to six charges of supplying dangerous drugs when she appeared, supported by her mother and her two siblings.
On June 4, 2018, two men were detained by police when they searched a Southside address.
Phones and a SIM card found there revealed six messages from Mayfield over a two-month period, arranging the supply of methamphetamine for herself and others.
Mayfield was placed on two years on probation with two specific requirements including submitting to regular drug tests and that she submit to psychological treatment.
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