Ben James Friske pleads guilty at Gympie, Qld to drug dealing

A Qld tradie whose criminal history includes extortion has run afoul of the law again, this time for his ‘hopeless’ attempt to dodge drug dealing charges.

Drug dealing Gympie tradie Ben James Friske’s attempts to dodge the law by paying someone else to take the fall has landed him in even hotter water than he was already in.

A drug dealing Gympie tradie’s attempts to dodge the law by paying someone else to take the fall has landed him in even hotter water.

Ben Jame Friske, 34, was originally arrested by police for drug dealing when they carried out a search warrant in January 2023 at a Gympie residence.

Gympie District Court heard Friske was found at the address along with his customer, his then-girlfriend’s brother, and his deals were outlined on the man’s phone.

He was ultimately charged with 13 counts of supplying either marijuana, methamphetamine, or MDMA from September 2019 to October 2022.

The court heard following his arrest Friske approached a co-offender with an offer to pay him to take the rap and claim he used Friske’s phone and Facebook account without his knowledge.

Drug dealing Gympie tradie Ben James Friske’s attempts to dodge the law by paying someone else to take the fall has landed him in even hotter water than he was already in.

The co-offender agreed and Friske ultimately presented a false statutory declaration to Gympie Magistrates Court.

Unfortunately for the 33-year-old it was at this point his scheme fell apart.

The court identified the falsity in short order, and phone recordings between Friske and his co-offender while they were in prison.

Friske’s criminal record included drug offences, and an entry for extortion and wilful damage which was dealt with in the Gympie District Court in September 2020.

In that case Friske made “extreme threats” against two clients of his fence building business.

Ben James Friske pleaded guilty to 13 drug supply charges, and attempting to pervert the course of justice.

He was on parole at the time some of his drug deals were made, the court heard.

Judge Bernard Porter labelled Friske’s plan to pervert justice “pretty hopeless” and “incompetent”.

The 33-year-old’s drug and alcohol issues were hurting what would otherwise be a “successful work life” as a tradesman.

Judge Porter said while there was a commercial element to the drug deals, it was accepted Friske was not running a commercial drug dealing operation.

He accepted Friske’s guilty plea to the drug supply charges and attempting to pervert the course of justice, and sentenced him to two years’ jail.

The entirety of the sentence was suspended for three years, with Friske having already served 11 months in custody on remand.

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