Aaron William John Motto in Rockhampton court for allegedly trafficking drugs

A Rockhampton family man and former Aurizon worker stands accused of running a secret Snapchat business after police busts allegedly uncovered cocaine, cash and hundreds of sinister texts.

Aaron William John Motto, 44, applied for bail in the Rockhampton Supreme Court on May 23. Picture: iStock

A Norman Gardens dad allegedly thought he could get away with trafficking dangerous drugs for more than two years “without anyone else knowing”, the Rockhampton Supreme Court has heard

Aaron William John Motto, 44, a former Wayside Monitoring Systems Maintainer diesel fitter with Aurizon, allegedly moved and sold drugs in Rockhampton between January 2021 and March 2023.

Crown prosecutor Cameron Keast said police searched Mr Motto’s home on March 5, 2023 and found 368g of a substance containing cocaine, 6g of a substance containing MDMA, an iPhone, clip seal bags, scales and $3910 in cash.

Justice Graeme Crow said the amount of cocaine in the substance was not yet known.

The court also heard police allegedly found numerous conversations on the phone where the sale and supplies of cocaine and MDMA were discussed and a tick sheet which showed 17 persons owing Mr Motto a total $24,720.

“There were hundreds of drug related texts to a large number of people,” Justice Crow said.

“Mr Motto would frequently advertise quantities of drugs through Snapchat, including cocaine, marijuana and MDMA, as large as ounces of cocaine.”

Justice Crow said it was alleged there was only a handful of supplies during the drug trafficking period due to the use of encrypted messaging applications.

The court heard police also searched Mr Motto on July 26, 2022 at the Blackwater Hotel and allegedly found 13 clip seal bags containing 15.6g of substance containing 1.485g of cocaine and that a drug supply had allegedly occurred.

He was charged with two counts of trafficking dangerous drugs, three counts of possessing dangerous drugs, and one count each of supplying dangerous drugs, possessing anything used in the commission of a crime defined in Part 2, possessing property suspected of having been acquired for the purpose of committing a drug offence and possessing property suspected of being the proceeds of an offence under the Drugs Misuse Act.

No pleas have been entered.

Defence barrister Alastair McDougall made an application for bail on his behalf.

He said his client, a father of four, had been in custody for 79 days and a financial analyst statement was still outstanding.

“It’s difficult to make out any actual transactions from the messages without the bank statement,” he said.

“While it might appear to be a strong case, it will come down to submissions in relation to length or substance in nature to that trafficking over a passage of time.”

The court heard Mr Motto also disputed the amount of cocaine allegedly found in the 368g of a substance on March 5.

Mr McDougall proposed bail conditions, including that his client would live close to the North Rockhampton Police Station, not possess or use drugs, have a curfew, report regularly to police and not have encrypted applications on his mobile phone.

He also said Mr Motto’s sister had sourced a $10,000 surety through his family.

Mr Keast however said Mr Motto was previously allowed bail twice and argued neither of those occasions deterred him from continuing his alleged drug trafficking business.

“There’s conversations where he remarks about his ability to traffic without anyone else knowing and would just do it to make money,” he said.

In refusing bail, Justice Crow said “there is an unacceptable risk that Mr Motto would continue his involvement in the drug industry”.

The charges are due to be mentioned again in Rockhampton Magistrates Court on May 31.