Sarah Jane Frousheger sentenced in Supreme Court at Rockhampton for drug trafficking

A central Queensland mum was part of a drug syndicate which trafficked ice with a CCTV camera near their home capturing about 124 people, most of which were Rockhampton customers, in just days. FULL DETAILS

A Central Queensland mother of six has avoided time behind bars for her role in her then partner’s “truly evil” drug trafficking operation.

Sarah Jane Frousheger, 35, pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court at Rockhampton on July 21 to drug trafficking, possessing a dangerous drug in excess of 2g, possessing tainted property, possessing marijuana and two counts of possessing utensils which had been used.

The court heard that Frousheger was involved in a trafficking operation with her then partner Damien John Arnold between December 2019 and April 2020.

The court was told the pair was part of a drug syndicate that was based in south-east Queensland and their offending was uncovered during police operation Romeo Holt which was run by the state’s drug squad.

The operation targeted the syndicate leader and the pair’s involvement was picked up during legal phone intercepts by police, the court heard.

The operation involved the pair trafficking marijuana and ice which was “commercially motivated”.

The court heard that during a six-month period, the couple would buy drugs off the syndicate leader before onselling to their customers in Rockhampton.

The court was told that Arnold was the primary seller of the drugs, while Frousheger looked after the accounts of the business.

Frousheger also served as a point of contact between Arnold and his suppliers and customers.

The court heard that Frousheger would use electronic tick sheets, encrypted messaging applications and code words to conceal the full extent of the trafficking.

It heard that Arnold would pay between $3550 and $4600 per ounce for meth, with the largest quantity of four ounces costing more than $17,000.

In total, Arnold purchased 24 ounces of meth for more than $102,000, the court heard.

He also purchased marijuana in quantities between two and eight pounds, purchasing a total of 16 pounds of the drug for more than $50,000.

Sarah Jane Frousheger pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court at Rockhampton to a number of offences including drug trafficking.

The court heard that at one point, Frousheger and Arnold complained to the syndicate leader about the consistency in which they were being supplied because they were losing customers due to selling drugs faster than they were supplied.

The court was told Frousheger would also supply to customers on Arnold’s instructions.

On one occasion she sold an “eight ball” of ice for $1000 and an ounce for unknown amounts.

Frousheger was involved in the sale of a total of more than 100g of the drug.

A CCTV camera near Frousheger and Arnold’s home captured about 124 people, most of which were customers, attend the property between midnight on April 1, 2020, until police raided the home just days later on April 5.

Some of them attended more than once on the same day.

The court heard on the day police raided Arnold’s home, a customer arrived at the property to purchase drugs.

During the raid of the home, a number of items were found including a taser, mobile phones and a blue case containing digital scales, cash and clip-seal bags.

When the phones were analysed, police uncovered some messages between Frousheger and associates.

Arnold was sentenced in February to three years’ imprisonment with an immediate parole release after 276 days of pre-sentence custody was declared as time already served, and a serious drug offence certificate was issued.

The court heard Frousheger had made progress to rehabilitate including getting two jobs and doing a number of courses.

Justice Graeme Crow said sentencing Frousheger “wasn’t easy” and said people who came before the courts for such serious offending usually had a long history.

Justice Crow said the maximum term of imprisonment for the “evil conduct” of drug trafficking was 25 years.

“Ordinarily if you traffic in dangerous drugs you would expect to see the inside of a prison for some time, particularly at the levels you trafficked at,” he said.

Justice Crow said while the seriousness of the offence went against Frousheger, she wasn’t as involved in the operation as Arnold was.

Justice Crow said Frousheger’s rehabilitation efforts would be disturbed if she was to be sent to prison.

Frousheger was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment with immediate parole release.

A serious drug offence certificate was issued.