Gympie, Fraser Coast, Bundaberg drug dealers exposed
A major spike in drugs has spiralled in Wide Bay following a string of drug crime in the region. Now the area’s newly convicted drug dealers can be revealed. SEE THE FULL LIST
Gympie
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Drug addiction continues to be a major cause of misery and crime across the Wide Bay and much of Australia, and despite the best efforts of police there appears to be no sign of it impact on our community abating.
An average of seven drug crimes are reported across the Wide Bay every day in the past year.
According to the Queensland Police Service Online Crime Map, police have investigated more than 1100 drug crimes in the Gympie region in past 12 months, 2300 in the Fraser Coast and 2500 in the Bundaberg region.
Bayside Transformations is an addiction rehabilitation centre at Torquay on the Fraser Coast.
Director Tina Davie says ice has become the most destructive drug in the region in the past decade.
“We’ve seen an increase of ice users of 65-70 per cent,” she said.
It destroys mental health and families and is a huge cost to hospitals, Ms Davie said.
“It affects everything. From families, to children, to hospitals, to courts. It’s a huge cost on our community,” she said.
Maryborough police station officer-in-charge David Harbison describes ice as the worst drug in the community.
“This is a potent and very addictive form of amphetamine,” he said.
“It is popular across all socioeconomic levels as it is generally smoked as opposed to being injected intravenously, somewhat reducing the stigma associated with illicit drug usage.”
Detective Senior Sergeant Harbison said that even at street level, police often found ice purity levels at 70-80 per cent, as opposed to amphetamine “speed”, which was rarely found over 10 per cent pure.
Each week, in courtrooms across the Wide Bay and the nation, drivers with drugs in their system are being dealt with in their hundreds, but many more go unnoticed on our roads. Most serious car accidents involve drugs or alcohol.
Drugs are a scourge on our society and only by consistently highlighting their prevalence and the destruction they cause, by publicising the increasing numbers of addicts, and naming and shaming those who supply and deal, can we even hope to start to make a difference.
Gympie
Jason Troy Straun Robertson
One of Gympie‘s most notorious drug rings included Jason Troy Straun Robertson, who sold hundreds of dollars’ worth of dangerous drugs before being snagged by local police.
Robertson pleaded guilty to two counts of supplying a dangerous drug, and one count of possessing anything used to carry out a crime.
Two officers posed as potential customers to Robertson, and said they were interested in buying methylamphetamine.
He also said Robertson sold $250 worth of product in Gympie, and $350 worth on the Sunshine Coast.
Robertson was sentenced to 15 months jail and was released on parole immediately.
Charles Anthony Thomas
Charles Anthony Thomas was caught dealing methamphetamine amid a wider operation by police targeting the supply of illegal drugs in the Wide Bay.
Thomas was charged over two deals he made in March, selling 0.238g on March 22 and 0.49g on March 23, 2021.
He pleaded guilty to each count, along with one count of possessing marijuana.
He had already been in custody for four months, had been on a suspended sentence at the time of these crimes, and had been kept in isolation after being assaulted in prison and forced to spend the night in hospital.
Thomas was remanded in custody.
Alena Eve Pyke
Alena Eve Pyke, 36, pleaded guilty to six charges of supplying drugs as well as possessing a phone used to organise a series of small methylamphetamine deals in 2020.
Pyke dealt at least 9g of the drug to an undercover officer between March 19 and May 16, 2020.
She was arrested in September 2020 and remanded in court until July 2021.
The court heard Pyke was an intermediary and was ‘paid’ not in cash for arranging the deals but in small amounts of the drug for her own use.
Judge Glen Cash sentenced Pyke to remain in jail until December 14, 2021 with parole for a further 10 months.
Bundaberg
Caleb James Nairn
A young Bundaberg man promoted and advertised his range of MDMA and cannabis to addicts in the region.
A Bundaberg court heard Nairn ran a drug business, promoting his products, sending advertisements on instant messaging apps and even seeking customer feedback.
The 21-year-old’s illegal trade tumbled on May 28, 2020, when police carried out a standard check of his car and uncovered several clip-seal bags containing 32.285g of MDMA in crystal form with a purity of 26.05 per cent – or more than 8g of the pure drug.
Police also found meth, Midazolam tablets and 144g of cannabis.
Nairn gave police the passcode to his phone, who uncovered the details of his street-level operation spanning four-and-a-half months.
The court heard Nairn had at least 27 local customers and made 95 sales since starting to traffic drugs.
Nairn was sentenced to three years’ jail but allowed immediate parole.
Juanita Joy Smith
Juanita Joy Smith was on probation and bail but it wasn’t enough to stop the former childcare worker from continuing her drug trafficking trade after getting caught.
For about six months between September 2020 and March 2021, Smith ran a drug business selling ice to a customer base of about 38 people to fuel her own habit.
Smith, 48, pleaded guilty in the Bundaberg Supreme Court to drug trafficking, supplying and a number of other drug related offences.
Crown Prosecutor Caroline Marco told the court Smith would purchase her drugs from her daughter’s partner before on-selling them to her own customer base.
Ms Marco said Smith would purchase ice from him almost every day and at one point, had a debt of about $14,000.
Smith sold the drugs to her customers in quantities between 0.1g and 3.5g and would make multiple sales a day.
Police raided Smith’s Bundaberg home in January where they found ice, LSD, scales and cash.
Ms Marco said Smith’s home was searched again in March after she was sentenced in Bundaberg Supreme Court for another matter and marijuana was found.
Smith was sentenced to a total of five years in jail and will be eligible for parole in April, 2023 after serving 22 months.
168 days of presentence custody was declared as time already served and a serious drug offence certificate was issued.
Tiffany Leigh Coleman
A court has heard how a young woman’s MDMA trafficking business was found after police searched her home finding thousands in cash and dozens of drugs.
Tiffany Leigh Coleman, 25, pleaded guilty in Bundaberg Supreme Court to drug trafficking and possessing drugs and used utensils.
Coleman’s seven month long trafficking operation was uncovered when police raided her home in June 2020.
During that time she sold between three and 60 capsules at a time, on 30 different occasions to 17 different customers.
During the search they found $5000 in cash, which the court heard was proceeds from her drug sales.
As well as the cash they found 50 capsules containing a combined total of 1.207g of pure MDMA.
Coleman was sentenced to three years jail with a parole release after serving six months.
Fraser Coast
Mellessa “Ruby” Togo
A mum at the centre of a drug ring, selling meth and cannabis to more than 100 customers, was told her daughter would be “better off without her” if she did not walk away from her life of crime.
Mellessa “Ruby” Togo, 35, pleaded guilty in Maryborough Supreme Court to drug trafficking.
The court heard Togo came to the attention of police while they were targeting a drug operation in Hervey Bay.
During her offending, Togo allegedly sourced the drugs from Kim Beech, who police allege ran the operation between Hervey Bay and Logan.
On one occasion, she owed him $4000, police alleged, and the court heard she met with him on 52 occasions, sourcing drugs and paying for drugs she had sold.
Togo was sentenced to four and a half years in prison.
She was given parole eligibility on June 23, 2021.
For the full story, click here.
Joe Antony Drobny
For two weeks, a Hervey Bay man had a thriving business, selling drugs to 26 different customers and making thousands of dollars.
His fortunes quickly changed however when he was a passenger in the car during a random police check.
Joe Antony Drobny, 24, pleaded guilty in Maryborough Supreme Court to one count of drug trafficking.
The court heard Drobny’s offending came to light when police stopped a white Hyundai Elantra, in which he was a passenger.
Drobny appeared “nervous and fidgety,” the court was told.
Police searched the car and found clip seal bags and scales.
He told police the items were for coin collecting, which Justice Graeme Crow described as a “shallow lie, a hopeless lie”.
An examination of Drobny’s phone soon revealed the items’ true purpose.
Police found evidence of 26 customers and numerous drug deals for both meth and marijuana, which Drobny had sold for thousands of dollars.
Drobny was sentenced to three years in prison but immediately released on parole.
Zachary Drew Neil Stallan
Zachary Drew Neil Stallan, 24, pleaded guilty to breaching his sentence when he faced Maryborough Supreme Court.
He was originally sentenced in August, 2020, for trafficking and supplying drugs.
During the sentencing, the court heard Stallan was in the business of trafficking drugs, including marijuana, meth, oxycodone and diazepam.
He mainly dealt marijuana and had provided 253 grams for about $6000 over 17 months.
He had supplied drugs to more than 30 customers, the court was told.
During his sentencing in 2020, the court heard Stallan would threaten people who failed to pay when he supplied drugs “on credit”, increased prices during the Commonwealth Games and offered specials over the Christmas period.
The court was also told of Stallan’s deprived background during the sentencing.
Justice Crow activated 12 months of the sentence and released Stallan immediately on parole.
Holly May Neilson
She was the face of a Hervey Bay jumping castle business but behind the scenes Holly May Neilson was helping people get high in a whole different way.
The pregnant 25-year-old daughter of two key figures in one of the biggest meth empires in the Wide Bay’s recent criminal history, had her day in Hervey Bay District Court where she pleaded guilty to five counts of supplying and one count of producing dangerous drugs.
The court heard the owner of Holly’s Jumping Castles was selling meth on the side after becoming caught up in her parents’ drug trafficking business.
She sold “street level quantities of the drug” and was busted by police who were targeting the wider drug dealing operation.
Both her parents, Cinnamon Coughlan and Ed Westphal, are currently serving terms in prison for their roles.
Neilson was sentenced to 18 months in jail but was allowed immediate release on parole.
Check out this Wide Bay drug crime map:
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