Stephen Frederick Brandenburg pleaded guilty to trafficking marijuana in Central Queensland for five months

He had been working in the mines when he seriously hurt his back and was forced to leave the job. His training business was flailing.

A Mackay father was jailed for trafficking marijuana in Central Queensland. Photo Kelly Butterworth / CQ News

A Mackay father will spend the next five months in jail after he was busted pushing drugs because his training business was failing and the bills were piling up.

The 61 year old was caught up in a police sting targeting trafficking in Central Queensland.

On March 26, 2020 when two men spoke on the phone about Stephen Frederick Brandenburg selling them four pounds (1.81kg) of marijuana, detectives were listening.

Mackay District Court heard police suspected Brandenburg would travel from Mackay out west to drop off the goods.

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So the following morning, at 6am, officers parked on the side of the road between Moranbah and Clermont – 13 minutes later, Brandenburg drove past.

When his car was searched police seized 3.287kg of marijuana across seven cryovac bags and six clip seal bags, $5500 in cash and a number of empty clip seal bags.

The court heard Brandenburg told police, “two pounds were intended for a customer in Clermont, and the rest, five pounds and six ounces, were to be supplied to a new customer in Emerald”.

He admitted to trafficking marijuana between October 2019 and March 2020.

A Mackay businessman and father pleaded guilty in Mackay District Court to four charges including trafficking marijuana in Central Queensland.

His reason – his business was struggling and medical bills, including skin cancer treatment, were mounting.

Defence barrister Scott McLennan said his client “thought stupidly” he could sell drugs to alleviate the pressure and was genuinely remorseful for his conduct.

Then aged 59 and 60, he bought the drugs for about $3000-$3500 per pound (453g) and onsold for $3500-$4000, offering “a $500 discount for those who could pay in cash”, and delivered the product in person sometimes making a 1000km round trip.

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The court heard Brandenburg would not identify his customers and told police he “only sold about four pounds (1.81kg) in total”.

But Judge Paul Smith said one customer revealed Brandenburg had sold him up to 10 pounds (4.53kg) over the five months.

“So you did try to minimise your criminality,” Judge Smith said.

Crown legal officer Matthew Sutton told the court the full extent of Brandenburg’s drug sales were unknown, but based on the police case he stood to collect $68,000 in total making about $8500 in profit.

Judge Smith said it was entirely commercial and not to support a drug habit.

Mr McLennan said his client had been working in the mines when he seriously hurt his back in 2005 and was forced to leave the job in 2009 because of the injury.

Stephen Frederick Brandenburg sold marijuana when his business began failing.

The following year he retrained as a mining trainer/assessor and worked for a company until 2017, when he started his own business.

The court heard it was not successful and Brandenburg was hindered by health issues and medical bills.

So he turned to trafficking. As a result of his arrest his wife left him.

Mr McLennan pushed for a wholly suspended sentence but Judge Smith said it was “just too serious”. He added the term of actual custody would be significantly reduced.

Brandenburg pleaded guilty to four charges including trafficking and aggravated drug possession. He was jailed for 3.5 years, to be suspended after five months.

Convictions were recorded.

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Originally published as Stephen Frederick Brandenburg pleaded guilty to trafficking marijuana in Central Queensland for five months