Drugs the not-so-secret ingredient for jailed couple’s Unicorn Sweets
A child safety officer and her Centrelink-reliant partner’s lives have soured after police discovered they were trafficking drugs nationwide through fudge, cake and brownies for years.
Police & Courts
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A Queensland couple who have worked for child safety and at a hospital have been jailed for trafficking drugs Australia-wide for four years, advertising their business Unicorn Sweets on encrypted messaging services, a court has heard.
Former Brisbane residents Alethea Brownwyn Wallace and Art Nickolls, both aged 50, produced marijuana in Brisbane for about three years and later Rockhampton then used the illicit substance to make baked goods and lollies laced with Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (also known as THC) and cannabinoids which were “professionally marketed and packaged” and shipped via Australia Post.
The couple, who have been in a relationship for more than 25 years, had both been prescribed medicinal marijuana for their individual mental health diagnoses, their barristers Julie Marsden and Maree Willey told Rockhampton District Court on Thursday, October 31.
Judge Jeff Clarke said the couple’s sophisticated trafficking period was long, providing fudge, cake, brownies and gummies.
He said between May 30, 2019 and September, 2023, they sold products containing 7.75 kilograms of the illicit drug in at least 2525 transactions that police were able to uncover, to several 100 people across the country.
Crown prosecutor Tessa Wormsley said the trafficking came to light when postal workers in Rockhampton noticed the smell from two parcels sent by the couple on two separate occasions – July 27, 2023, and August 31, 2023.
The court heard police found “professional marketing and packaging material” when the searched the couple’s Rockhampton home and discovered a room dedicated to the Unicorn Sweets business which contained fertiliser, four mobile phones, heat lamp, grow tents, fans, cryovac machine and electrical cords.
Ms Wormsley said the couple received more than $632,000 in their accounts during the trafficking period.
Ms Marsden said some of that money was her client’s income from working as a child safety officers.
“(It) is gobsmacking that during the trafficking period Wallace was employed as a child safety officer and in my view, you bring great reputational damage to what is a noble calling which should be performed by noble caring people helping vulnerable children and families,” Judge Clarke said.
“I’m quite frankly, equally flabbergasted that you would think that it would be acceptable to make, market and sell dangerous drugs having been exposed to the considerable harm that dangerous drugs do in our community in the course of your work.”
Wallace had worked for child safety between 2009 to 2023, losing her job when she was charged for this offending.
Ms Marsden said her client had then found employment with Telstra and TK Maxx immediately, finishing up with them a week ago to pack up the rental house and deliver her pets to family.
She said Wallace, whose elderly parents live in Brisbane, suffered brain aneurysms in 2008 and those were treated with clips.
Ms Marsden said she now has a brain tumour but due to the clips, can’t complete an MRI.
She said her client had been diagnosed over the years with post traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression, and she has diabetes.
Ms Willey said Nickolls had worked up until 2020 as an orderly at a hospital and in security and was then receiving Centrelink benefits.
She said he had previously worked at Brisbane City Council and was a talented didgeridoo player who performed Australia-wide and overseas.
Ms Willey said Nickolls had “behavioural issues” growing up and a psychiatrist report indicated he would have been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder if he had displayed those issues today.
She said he had been prescribed medicinal marijuana for longstanding mental health issues but has not consumed any marijuana products, prescription or otherwise, since January, and is now medication compliant for the mental health issues – depression, anxiety and autism.
Wallace and Nickolls both pleaded guilty to one count of trafficking marijuana, four counts of possessing a dangerous drug, one of possessing drug utensils and pipes, one of possessing anything used in the commission of a crime and one of possessing more than 500 grams of marijuana.
They were both sentenced to eight years prison with parole eligibility on November 1, 2026.
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