Drug trafficker’s McDonalds early morning hit and run crash

He had been sober for five to six years, but a loss of job and relationship break down drove him back to the illicit drugs he started using as a young teen.

A drug trafficker who caused about $6,500 damage to a McDonalds drive-thru sign had been sober for five to six years but a loss of job and relationship break down drove him back to illicit drugs.

Tyson Jeffrey Ellis, 24, pleaded guilty on April 27 in the Supreme Court in Rockhampton to 20 charges including two counts of trafficking drugs, one count of possessing more than two grams of drugs, four counts of possessing drugs, two possess weapons of which one was altered, possess restricted drugs, possess suspected proceeds of drug crime, and drive without due care and attention.

The two trafficking charges arose from two one-week trafficking periods.

Ellis drove through the McDonalds drive-thru in Gladstone at 4.40am on February 9, 2020, lost control of the car, with the tray of the vehicle hitting the sign and causing $6476 in damages.

Ellis drove off without leaving his information, sped away from the scene and crashed into a power pole.

Police searched Ellis' residence at 8.42am on February 12, 2020, finding him holding a suitcase and backpack on his way to the backyard. He started to run away from police after being warned by associates police were on their way.

Ellis was apprehended and police searched the bags, finding five clip seal bags of methamphetamines weighing a total of 12.30g of which 8.86g was pure meth.

He also had three clip seal bags of meth in his possession, weighing 3.5g, 1.5g and 0.3g.

Ellis also had restricted drugs in his possession, not in blister packs, including lyrica and amitriptyline.

He also had morphine, electric scales, clip seal bags and $900 in a black sunglasses case.

There was a large gold watch among the cash.

Police also located 368g of marijuana including 59g found under a mattress.

They also found three iPhones, an iPad, four glass pipes, a water pipe, a category B rifle in the ceiling of the bedroom broken into pieces and the identification tag filed, along with two blow torches.

There was another firearm on the coffee table in the lounge room.

The phones contained supply drugs messages between February 6-13, 2020, with the largest debt owed to Ellis being $800.

Justice Graeme Crow said the messages contained information suggesting the drug trafficking was Ellis's only income at the time and he told one person he wanted to 'rebuild his client base'.

Ellis' drug trafficking was to an unknown number of customers with street-level amounts supplied.

Ellis was held on remand until March 6, 2020, where a bail application involving his mother providing $20,000 surety was successful.

Two weeks later, Ellis breached his bail condition of a curfew.

Two months later, he was found in possession of 0.81g of meth and 2.09g of a cutting agent.

He refused to give police his phone code, which again breached his bail.

Ellis was arrested on May 5 and remanded in custody until sentencing.

Defence barrister Tom Polley said his client, who had an unfortunate upbringing, had been sober for five or six years and had been working in Hervey Bay as bricklayer but lost his employment and his relationship broke down in early 2020, leaving Ellis without a job, partner or anywhere to live so he fell back into using drugs.

The court heard Ellis' mother had drug problems and his father had alcohol issues.

Ellis started using marijuana due to his peers and had advanced to meth by the time he was 16.

Ellis's criminal record included a district court sentence in 2015 for 17 supply charges.

Read more: I lost $20,000 and 20kg on ice habit: teen

Justice Crow sentenced Ellis to four years prison, suspended after serving a further four months (until August 26, 2021) and operational for four years for the first trafficking charge.

He then gave him a three-year prison term for the second trafficking charge with parole release on August 26, 2021.

Justice Crow explained the sentencing structure was to address the long delays being experienced by the parole board, with evidence before the court on April 27 a person had applied for parole in March and were told their application would not be reviewed until August due to the backlog.

He declared 359 days presentence custody as time served and disqualified Ellis from driving for six months.

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Originally published as Drug trafficker’s McDonalds early morning hit and run crash