Rockhampton meth trafficker Arron William Johnston jailed

A ‘not glamourous’ Rockhampton drug trafficker used sneaky tricks to conceal evidence of his trafficking business as police arrived to raid his home.

Arron William Johnston, 33, was sentenced in the Rockhampton Supreme Court on March 9, 2023.

A Rockhampton drug trafficker who was using 3.5g of methamphetamine a day has been jailed after he trafficked the drug for two and a half months and was caught in telephone intercepts with his supplier.

Arron William Johnston, 33, pleaded guilty in the Rockhampton Supreme Court on March 9 to one count each of trafficking dangerous drugs, possessing dangerous drugs in excess of two grams, possessing a thing for use in connection with trafficking dangerous drugs and two counts of damaging evidence with intent.

The court heard Johnston’s offending came to light during 12-month police operation Sierra Decompress, which targeted drug trafficking in the Rockhampton region.

Justice Graeme Crow said Johnston trafficked dangerous drugs between November 18, 2020 and February 3, 2021.

Defence barrister Scott Lynch said his client only trafficked meth.

Justice Crow said drug trafficker Darren Burnell was Johnston’s primary supplier of meth and that police identified Johnston through intercepted calls on Burnell’s phone during the trafficking period.

Burnell was sentenced to five years prison, suspended after serving two years and operational for five years after pleading guilty in the Rockhampton Supreme Court on May 18, 2022 to a number of charges including trafficking dangerous drugs.

Justice Crow said Johnston would regularly source drugs from Burnell, sourcing 28g of meth in total, and sell them to his own customer base.

“You had customers lined up,” he said.

He said in total 40 people had transferred Johnston $30,724 over 227 deposits.

He said Johnston was unemployed and that his only form of income was from Centrelink and winnings from an online casino.

The court heard Johnston texted Burnell on December 24, 2020, “Hey bro, I have a few hundred, can I come and see you”.

“You withdrew $700 from the ATM that date,” Justice Crow said.

“The day before you received a Centrelink payment.

“You spent virtually all your government money on drugs it seems.”

Justice Crow said police executed a search warrant at Johnston’s address in Berserker on December 17, 2020 and that while police tried to gain access to the property he destroyed his phone.

The SIM card had been removed and the phone had been bent and broken and appeared to have been set on fire.

Police intercepted Johnston’s vehicle in Rockhampton on January 23, 2021 and found two bags of meth weighing 6.831g.

A second search warrant was executed at Johnston’s address on February 2, 2021 and police found a quantity of clip seal bags and calibration weights.

Johnston had again destroyed his phone, which was found in the sink, the SIM card had been removed and it was broken, bent in the middle, had a shattered screen and was wet.

The court heard Johnston started using dangerous drugs “as a young man” and became dependent on meth, using up to 3.5g a day at the time of the offending.

Mr Lynch said his client, who had six children, was using very significant quantities and was still using but less than what he was.

“Many of his front teeth have fallen out or have been the subject of damage as the result of his significant use,” he said.

“When he was arrested there was no evidence of any glamour in his life.

“He instructs he absolutely wants to turn his life around and intends on doing that.”

Johnston was sentenced to four years prison with parole eligibility on March 7, 2024 and 107 days of pre-sentence custody was declared as time served.

The clip seal bags and calibration weights were forfeited to the Crown and a serious drug offence certificate was issued.