Crown seizes bikie boss's cash as proceeds of crime

FORMER Hervey Bay bikie boss Adam Warwick McCrea has lost a fight to stop Queensland’s crime watchdog confiscating $84,655 from him as proceeds of crime.

HAPPIER TIMES: Former Wide Bay Rebels Motorcycle Club president, Adam ‘Big Adam’ McCrea. Picture: Alistair Brightman

FORMER Hervey Bay bikie boss Adam Warwick McCrea has lost a fight to stop Queensland's crime watchdog confiscating $84,655 from him as proceeds of crime.

The Crime and Misconduct Commission had sought to confiscate $8345 found at McCrea's Takura home, the $9000 cash police seized from a safe at the Pialba tattoo shop he owned with his wife and half the proceeds of the tattoo shop's sale, $79,103.

It was not clear from the court documents how the final figure of $84,655 was arrived at when Justice Anthe Philippides handed down her decision.

McCrea - who is serving a seven-year jail sentence for cocaine trafficking but will be eligible for parole in August this year - had filed a statement to the Brisbane Supreme Court registry asking those assets be excluded from confiscation proceedings.

The 48-year-old said the Pialba property, where he and his then wife Christine McCrea ran a tattoo shop, related to a family business.

"My former wife Christine McCrea, I have to be fair, ran a fairly successful business," he said.

"Christine and I have worked hard to increase our capital holdings through the acquisition, improvement and sale of our various rental properties."

McCrea said the $9000 cash police seized from Pialba and the $8345 from Takura - found split across bedroom drawers and his wallet - was legitimate and not crime proceeds.

"I note that this money had been accumulated by me over a period of time from monies received by my former wife and I from various sources such as the tattoo business which operated from 42 Torquay Road Pialba," he said.

"In addition I again received rent, that being cash, from tenants at the front of my Takura property, then Frank Spinerolo.

"In addition to these matters there was cash held by me that was derived by way of windfall due to sale of some of my personal assets or belongings from time to time."

McCrea, a father of three, pleaded his case as a concreter whose depression and anxiety got the better of him, leading to a disability pension since about 1998.

When police, during raids on March 4, 2009, found 100 ecstasy pills, 17g marijuana in a Brut deodorant can, 7g of seeds, a 500ml bottle of testosterone in a fridge, a Pepsi can with nine vials of steroids and digital scales hidden in a leather glove.

They also found two sets of handcuffs, 143 shotgun shells, 252 .22 calibre bullets, rife bolt and a magazine behind a corrugated iron wall in the shed.

The former president of the local chapter of the Rebels Motorcycle Club, who bought about $102,000 worth of cocaine over five months, has previously told the courts he was addicted to cocaine at the time of the offences.

McCrea said ecstasy was his then-girlfriend's drug of choice and he sourced the tablets for her.

Justice Philippides also ordered other restrained property, which the Public Trustee held, be released.

This included a 2007 Harley Davison motorcycle, 2008 homemade boat trailer, 2001 Toyota wagon and 2003 Nissan patrol wagon.

McCrea, in one document filed to the court, said he had given the motorbike to alleged fellow bikie Joshua Carew but he had moved to Rockhampton and could no longer use the bike.

"The bike was provided to me as president of the Rebels Motorcycle Club, Hervey Bay chapter, on the basis that our members could use that motorbike," he said.

"I do not own this motorbike."

FACTBOX

McCrea's real estate

• House in Dundowran. Bought July 18, 1989. Sold 2001 for $150,000.
• House at 125 Country Road, Takura. Bought for $200,000. Used money from selling Dundorwan. Mortgage for $30,000 to $40,000.
• House at 765 River Head Road, River Heads. Bought September 4, 2003 for $80,000. Sold October 23, 2006 for $265,000.
• Commercial units on Torquay Road Pialba. Bought February 22, 2007 for $104,500 and $90,000, respectively. McCrea's net share when sold was $79,103.
• McCrea says he used money the River Heads to pay for those, to pay $20,000 to the existing tattoo shop business and used the $30,000 balance to pay into a mortgage on the matrimonial property at Takura.
• Westpac - under mortgagee powers - sold 26 Endeavour Way, Eli Waters in 2012 but there were no proceeds of sale as it was transferred to the Takura mortgage.
• The Takura property sold in 2012 but there was a shortfall of $10,032.96.