21 Mackay Isaac Whitsunday drug offenders of 2022 exposed
Mackay Isaac Whitsunday police have investigated more than 2500 reported drug offences over 11 months, which averages to seven a day. Read which 21 serious drug offenders had their matters finalised in 2022.
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Mackay Isaac Whitsunday police have investigated more than 2500 drug offences over 11 months – that averages to seven a day.
Queensland police data reveals there were 2593 drug offences reported across the Mackay district between January and November 2022. The December figures have not yet been collated.
These figures included 18 reported drug trafficking offences, 115 for supply and 1306 for drug possession.
Scroll down for 21 offenders who have been sentenced in Mackay Supreme or District Court for trafficking, supplying or aggravated drug possession in 2022.
The Queensland Police crime map shows there were 1290 drug offences across Mackay between December 23, 2021 and December 22, 2022 – with North Mackay recording almost half that figure at 584.
Some of the biggest clusters were in the Beaconsfield area with 50 drug offences occurring in or around the North Mackay Athletics field and Pioneer State High School.
South, East and West Mackay combined logged 613 drug offences.
Hot spots include 42 drug offences behind Nebo Rd between Bridge Rd and Milne Lane – between Mackay West State School and the West Mackay Post Shop.
There were 35 drug offences recorded near the Sydney St police station and Brisbane St courthouse, likely to have been uncovered during routine searches, while 26 were picked up in various locations off Gordon St within the CBD.
The Northern Beaches area had 117 drug offences spread out across different suburbs.
Sarina had 83 drug offences over the past year, with the biggest clusters happening in the city centre.
There were eight offences recorded at Railway Square, where the Bruce Highway and Broad St merge, with seven picked up off Place Ave between Brooks Rd and Holmes Ave.
There was a further six at the Broad St and Sarina Beach Rd roundabout.
Marian recorded 18 drug offences with a cluster of eight off Kennys Rd, while Mirani recorded 11 drug offences for the year.
Crime maps show Proserpine had 118 drug offences recorded over 12 months.
This included seven drug charges near the BP service station at the corner or Blair and Main Sts, a cluster of five behind Proserpine High School and two behind Proserpine State School.
There was also a cluster of six drug offences off Marathon St between Florence and Herbert Sts.
In Airlie Beach there were 239 drug offences in that same time frame with a large number (106) occurring in or off the party town’s main strip, while the rest were spread across the region including Cannonvale and Jubilee Pocket.
There were also 10 logged at Whitsunday police station.
Bowen had 133 drug offences in 12 months, with the majority (103) being logged in the town’s main grid areas.
In Collinsville there were 18 drug offences, nine of which occurred in the CBD while the rest were reported in the outskirts.
Moranbah had 54 drug offences over 12 months, seven of which were logged at the police station on St Francis Dr.
There was also a cluster of six off Fraser St, between Burke and Lawson Drs.
In Dysart there were 15 offences spread out across the small mining town, while Clermont logged 11 offences, three of which were at the police station.
TRAFFICKING
Reece William Luscombe, 32, was driving around in a Maserati claimed in a drug debt and had $100,000 stashed in his home.
The meth trafficker used brutal force against those who owed him money, bragging he “bashed the f---” out of a woman. Now he’s sitting in jail.
Luscombe was in control of more than one kilogram of pure methylamphetamines when he trafficked drugs for six months between 2019 and 2020.
When police busted the door of the Rural View father’s home in late March 2020 as part of operation Romeo Suitcase, detectives seized $108,620 in cash, 185.932 grams of pure meth in 320.383 grams of substance, weapons and a luxury car taken in lieu of a drug debt.
The drugs had a street value between $38,000 and $44,000.
Luscombe was a main target of Operation Romeo Suitcase with allegations the drug network extended from Gold Coast to Cairns with links to the Finks Outlaw Motorcycle Gang.
He pleaded guilty to trafficking between September 30 and March 30, aggravated drug possession, possessing cash, category H weapons and drug-related items. The court heard much of the trafficking occurred while Luscombe was on parole for a prior trafficking.
Luscombe was jailed for nine years and will be eligible for parole on August 15, 2023.
Caleb Darmody, 23, was busted for a one day trafficking stint after police found him with $483,000 worth of drugs while he was stocking up his supply stash.
Mackay Supreme Court heard police had searched the cocaine and meth peddler’s car at Whitsunday Terraces Resort on May 6, 2021 and uncovered 40.643 grams of cocaine in 80.165 grams of substance, 25.083 grams of meth in 36.888 grams of substance, 19.368kg of total weight of marijuana and cash totalling $43,935.
The court heard the marijuana was valued between $138,000 and $415,000, the meth between $25,000 and $44,500 and the cocaine between $12,000 and $24,000.
Darmody, who appeared via video link after 10 months in custody on remand, pleaded guilty to a raft of charges including trafficking and supplying dangerous drugs, aggravated possession of drugs and possessing cash.
Darmody was jailed for 4.5 years to be suspended after serving 12 months.
Teneille Elaine Van Kerkwyk, 32, sold meth to support her own habit and allegedly ran another person’s major drug business.
The hospitality worker was snared in 2020 as part of a police operation targeting drug dealing in Mackay and it was revealed she was involved in two separate drug trafficking stints – one between June 2018 and December 2019 and then again between June and November 2020.
Mackay District Court heard Van Kerkwyk was a “street level drug trafficker” during the first stint, and for the second she was a “significant aider” in the alleged substantial trafficking activities of another including running the business when they were away.
Van Kerkwyk pleaded guilty to trafficking and other drug offences, but was “entitled to substantial credit” because of admissions she made to police that had bolstered charges against her.
She was jailed for 4.5 years suspended after already spending 468 days in custody on remand and placed on a three-year probation order.
Rheannen May Connolly, 27, had “no business sense” when she embarked on a short stint as a meth trafficker.
Mackay Supreme Court heard she had about 10 repeat customers across Mackay, Moranbah and Emerald and she would buy grams of meth for more than she could sell it.
In fact her trafficking business failed to profit and she was left in debt to her suppliers.
Police had been tapping another meth trafficker’s phone and came across her dealing, and as a result raided her home in December 2020.
She pleaded guilty to trafficking for about 10 months in 2020 and was jailed for three years with immediate parole.
Johnathon Jeffrey O’Brien, 41, was not living a “Pablo Escobar-ish lavish lifestyle” during an 11-week meth trafficking stint in Mackay.
Mackay Supreme Court heard he was “dealing with the absolute same crumbs every day” and “dealing with junkies being a junkie himself”, making “absolutely no profit”.
O’Brien pleaded guilty to a string of charges including meth trafficking between July and September 2020 at Mackay, drug possession, possessing shortened firearms, and refusing to give information to access an electronic item.
The court heard he was “buying in half balls”, had three suppliers and 27 customers.
He was jailed for five years with parole eligibility on July 26, 2022. Convictions were recorded.
Lukas Askew Litynski armed himself with a gun to collect a drug debt and has been jailed for a raft of offences including peddling ice and cocaine.
The 26 year old spent about six of the past seven years in jail as he went from a teen with an ice addiction to recidivist offender.
Mackay Supreme Court heard of his latest crime spree, the majority of the 17 charges occurred between January and February 2020 when he was trafficking meth for about six weeks and all while he was on parole.
Litynski pleaded guilty to 17 charges including trafficking and supplying drugs including meth, cocaine and steroids, aggravated drug possession (18.555 grams of pure meth in 27.106 grams of substance) and possessing $8240 in cash of unsourced income suspected of being drug sale proceeds.
He was jailed for 4.5 years with immediate parole eligibility after 18 months in custody on remand.
Mark Edward Hull was 17 when he found out he had cancer, but self-medicating as a teenager kicked off a dangerous spiral into addiction.
Now 38, he pleaded guilty in Mackay Supreme Court to drug trafficking and possession after police raided two Mackay homes.
Officers found a crystal substance containing 20.4 grams of methylamphetamine during one search at Bucasia, which Crown prosecutor Joshua Phillips said was evidence of a commercial trafficking operation beyond personal use.
The court heard the amount of drugs, if sold, had a street value of between $9000 and $11,000.
Hull was jailed for three years with immediate release after spending 14 months in presentence custody.
Emma Claire Jowsey, 38, trafficked “street level” methamphetamine from her home and ran the operation as a business.
The out-of-work Mackay mother caught in the grip of ice addiction turned to trafficking the drug to support herself and her son.
On October 28, 2020 Mackay CIB detectives raided her South Mackay home and uncovered she peddled meth from about October 5 that month.
She pleaded guilty in the supreme court to 15 offences including trafficking and aggravated meth possession.
Jowsey was jailed for three years with immediate parole after spending 439 days in pre-sentence custody.
SUPPLYING
Lisa Renae Wayne, 26, was a mum turned marijuana peddler with four customers who she had supplied drugs to 16 times.
A download from her phone that revealed 13 of the supplies involved marijuana, while three involved an unknown schedule one drug including one for 43 grams.
The court heard most of the marijuana supplies were in $50 quantities, but there was one totalling just more than $300.
Wayne, 26, pleaded guilty to 16 counts of supplying a dangerous drug at Proserpine between June 3 and July 15, 2020 – her offending was on the basis there was a commercial element to all her supplies.
She was jailed for 12 months with immediate release on parole.
Bronte Lee Soden, 32, felt she had to help her dad with his alleged meth peddling business because she had put a roof over her head.
Mackay District Court heard the Dysart mother was picked up through a police sting focusing on methylamphetamine distribution in Central Queensland.
Her father Brenton Victor Soden was a target.
In October and November 2020 in Central Queensland, she facilitated the supply of meth including a small amount to her dad and a quantity to her associates “that had a significant amount of money attached to it” ($1000) and actually supplied meth to others.
Some of her offending occurred after she “had an interaction with police”.
The 32 year old pleaded guilty to 10 charges including supplying methylamphetamines, refusing to allow police access to her mobile phone and other drug-related offences. She was jailed for 12 months with immediate parole and 156 days was declared time already served.
Colin McKay, 50, supplied drugs to outlaw gang members of the Mongrel Mob and was caught when his phone was tapped in police operation Sierra Asteroid.
The 50 year old faced Mackay District Court after pleading guilty to 12 drug supply and possession offences committed between April 14 and September 16 in 2021.
The drug sales ranged from lesser amounts of cannabis to more serious transactions of schedule one substances like cocaine.
He was arrested during a police raid at his Rural View home on January 12, 2022, where police found 24 grams of cannabis, as well as seeds and utensils.
He spent 55 days in custody before he was released on bail.
McKay was jailed for 10 months, suspended for two years.
Jordan Hoffman, 29, copped a lengthy jail term after a search of her phone revealed she supplied and offered meth and cannabis multiple times.
Mackay Supreme Court heard police raided the Airlie Beach mother‘s Preston property and uncovered she had been involved in 19 drug supplies.
The most serious offence involved a courier run to Bowen with 1.75g of meth, though an actual exchange did not take place.
Hoffman pleaded guilty to 19 counts of supplying dangerous drugs and one count of possession of anything used in connection with the supply of dangerous drugs.
She was jailed for 18 months with immediate parole release.
Robert John Curtis, 41, tried to help his mate score methamphetamine – instead he ended up spending more than nine months in jail.
Police were targeting his drug dealer as part of an operation that began in December 2020 when the Emerald man came to their attention over a $150 sale.
Mackay District Court heard lawful phone taps revealed that on October 4, 2021, Curtis called his dealer to buy “one point” of meth for $150 “which he would pass on to his friend”.
Curtis pleaded guilty to supplying meth as well as refusing police access to his mobile phone possessing a used drug pipe.
He was jailed for 231 days, which was declared as time already served, and given immediate release.
POSSESSING
Liam Michael Dunworth, 23, was found in a locked bedroom with a woman, 9.4 grams of meth and about $15,000 in cash.
The wannabe barber and self-professed “Mackay’s hottest crim” was caught with a large amount of drugs and cash barely a month after he had been released on parole when police raided a Rural View home on April 29, 2021.
He was arrested and spent 440 days in pre sentence custody before pleading guilty in Mackay Supreme Court to a raft of charges including aggravated meth possession and possessing a large amount of cash.
The court heard at his young age he had a five page criminal history.
Dunworth was jailed for 18 months cumulative to an earlier jail term with immediate parole release because of time already served.
Joshua Richard Collins, 39 loved to party but it was his undoing after police found a huge array of drugs, including meth, cocaine, MDMA, hallucinogens and marijuana, stashed at his home.
When the Grosvenor mine blast happened on May 6, 2020 the former Proserpine State High School student, who worked at the site, was stood down on full pay – he had time on his hands and money in his pocket.
Police searched his home on November 27, 2020 and found 6.458 grams of pure meth in 8.737 grams of substance, 1.472 grams of pure cocaine in 4.594 grams of substance, 0.621 grams of MDMA, a hallucinogenic drug DMT and 13 grams of marijuana.
Collins pleaded guilty to a raft of drug-related charges including aggravated drugs possession, possessing dangerous drugs, producing marijuana, and possessing drug-related items including a cocaine purity test kit and scales.
Collins was jailed for 12 months with immediate parole.
Beau Amos, 39, was staring down the barrel of a lengthy jail term after he was busted with meth and weapons months after his release on bail offered to pay someone $25,000 to “take the fall”.
While in custody on remand at Capricornia Correctional Centre he spoke with six people 22 times trying to find someone to provide a false statutory declaration to police, offering $25,000 if the fake document resulted in police dropping charges against him.
Mackay Supreme Court heard on May 12, 2021 police raided his Bucasia home uncovering about 7g of pure meth stashed in a bleach bottle under the sink, 36g of marijuana in a cryo bag in his cupboard, a metal silencer, semiautomatic rifle and ammunition.
Amos pleaded guilty to a raft of charges including aggravated meth possession on the grounds it was for a commercial purpose and attempting to pervert the course of justice.
He was jailed for a total of four years with immediate parole eligibility, and the 485 days in presentence custody were declared as time already served.
Joshua James Van Lawick, 29, was arrested and taken into custody after the police busted him with 20.7g of pure meth at an Alligator Creek property.
Mackay Supreme Court heard Van Lawick was sitting in a red Holden commodore at 2.45am when police raided the address.
Officers searched the car and uncovered 36.5g of a substance later analysed to be 20.7g of pure meth and a smaller quantity of MDMA in a black bag on the passenger seat.
Van Lawick pleaded guilty to multiple charges including aggravated drug possession.
He was jailed for three years with parole release on December 2, after spending 292 days in pre-sentence custody.
Jordan Robert Thompson, 25, was given a brutal insight into what life in jail would be like while he stood in Mackay Supreme Court dock after he was busted with a large amount of MDMA.
“You’ll live in a cell with another male … perhaps a violent man … a cell not much bigger than the dock you’re standing in,” Justice Graeme Crow told him.
Whitsunday detectives and the Townsville dog squad had raided Thompson’s Airlie Beach home on November 19, 2021 uncovering 11.588g of pure MDMA in 46.88g of substance that had been separated across 20 clip seal bags – the street value was between $3200 and $4600.
The court heard there was a commercial aspect to his crime.
Thompson pleaded guilty to aggravated MDMA possession, as well as possessing drug-related items including scales and pipes and was jailed for three years with immediate parole.
Melissa Rose-Ann Dreghorn, 37, was busted with a large amount of meth after a cleaner found her wallet at a motel.
Two days later on November 10, 2021 police stopped the Mackay mother as she was driving around Andergrove and a search of her car unearthed three bags of meth weighing 13.7 grams.
She pleaded guilty in Mackay Supreme Court to aggravated meth possession and possessing dangerous drugs.
The court heard her criminal history was littered with drug offending and she had spent more than eight months in custody on remand.
Dreghorn was jailed for two years with immediate parole release.
Aaron Mark Carpenter had agreed to run and stash drugs for his dealer after he couldn’t pay his bill, and he was caught.
The 25 year old Mackay man was busted with a huge stash of MDMA, marijuana, diamonds and almost $100,000 in cash as he was driving in the Brisbane area for a random breath test on October 17, 2019.
Mackay Supreme Court heard officers found $94,020 in cash, 26.3kg of marijuana across 55 cryovac bags, and a gold watch and several diamonds worth about $10,000.
Less than three months later he was back in jail on remand after police executed a search warrant at his West Mackay home on January 15, 2020 when officers uncovered 70.299 grams of MDMA across capsules and powder, a flick knife and used grinder.
Carpenter pleaded guilty to 11 charges including the aggravated possession of MDMA and marijuana and was jailed for five years suspended immediately, with 101 days in custody declared as time already served.
Desmond James Bowman, 41, has moved from a history of minor offences to a major conviction after he was busted with 19.9g of meth during a routine traffic stop.
He was driving in South Mackay on November 1, 2021, in a white Holden commodore when he was stopped by police for a roadside breath test.
Mackay Supreme Court heard when police searched the vehicle, they found 26.4g of a white crystal – that when analysed contained 19.9g of pure meth – in a baseball cap.
Bowman pleaded guilty to aggravated drug possession and was jailed for three years with parole after six months.
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