Dale Chris Bauer sentenced in court for trafficking dangerous drugs

After suffering a number of personal tragedies in his life, a Gladstone man descended into using methamphetamine and used the money he received from an insurance payout to start trafficking the dangerous drug.

After suffering a number of personal tragedies in his life, a Gladstone man descended into using methamphetamine and used the money he received from an insurance payout to start trafficking the dangerous drug.

Dale Chris Bauer, 52, pleaded guilty in the Rockhampton Supreme Court on December 2 to one count each of trafficking dangerous drugs and possessing dangerous drugs in excess of three grams and three counts of possessing dangerous drugs.

Crown prosecutor Harriet Hall-Pearce said Bauer was the target of a police operation into the suspected trafficking of meth in Central Queensland.

Ms Hall-Pearce said Bauer trafficked meth at wholesale quantities over four months, between June 10, 2020 and October 9, 2020, selling in quantities including half ounces and ounces.

Dale Chris Bauer, 52, appeared in the Rockhampton Supreme Court on December 2, 2021.

She said the largest identifiable sale was three ounces to another drug dealer.

The court heard that Bauer complained about the impact of border restrictions on his stock management.

Ms Hall-Pearce said on one occasion Bauer sourced three ounces of meth for up to $20,000.

She said when Bauer was arrested in Clinton, Gladstone, on October 8, 2020 he was found with 37.478g of pure meth, about $6000 in cash, a quantity of loose ammunition and a handgun.

Police searched his home on Hansen Crescent and found a further $48,550 in cash.

Defence barrister Martin Longhurst said his client descended into drug use much later in life after losing a long-term partner of 11 years and witnessing the death of his friend in a workplace accident in the late 90s.

“He didn’t deal with that properly and he probably never has, but he was functioning,” Mr Longhurst said.

“He became one of these functioning people who could work very hard at the mines and use drugs recreationally outside.

“While it was an unacceptable way to live, it’s a functional way to live and he did that for many years.”

He said his client hurt his shoulder in 2015 and descended rapidly into using meth.

“He found himself in jail and when he came out he couldn’t work in an industry he had worked in for his whole life,” he said.

“This is not the case where this is a snapshot of someone who has built up an empire over a number of years in wholesale trafficking.

“This is a man who found himself with a very heavy ice addiction, with cash because of the insurance payout, with time on his hand for the first time in his life and deep within the meth community.

“He just made that ridiculous decision to throw a substantial amount of money into buying these wholesale drugs.”

He said the trafficking period was short and that his client “only really provided meth to one of his four friends that was in it with him”.

He said his client had shown he could do courses in custody, that he could still be a functioning member of society and that he still had a support network.

Bauer was sentenced to eight years prison with 420 days declared as time served and parole eligibility on February 1, 2023.