Bli Bli trio plead guilty to involvement in home drug lab

Police found ‘chemicals everywhere’ during a raid on a suburban Sunshine Coast property transformed by three men from a family home into a fully operational drug lab.

Shane Ricky Dean leaves the Maroochydore Court house on November 28, 2023.

Two brothers and their landlord have relived the moment their illegal drug lab operating out of a suburban Sunshine Coast home was busted by cops as they learnt their fate in court.

The three Bli Bli men Jamie William Dean, 56, Shane Ricky Dean, 54, and Jesse Leo, 46, all appeared side-by-side in the dock in the Maroochydore District Court on Tuesday, November 28.

The trio faced a series of charges relating to the production of the drug GHB at a home in Bli Bli.

Jamie Dean pleaded guilty to the production of a dangerous drug, possession of a condenser and a number of reaction vessels.

His brother, Shane Dean pleaded guilty to possessing the chemical, GBL.

Owner of the house and father-of-two, Leo, pleaded guilty to permitting the use of a place to produce dangerous drugs.

The 46-year-old was also sentenced for a number of drug supply charges unrelated to the Bli Bli offence.

Crown prosecutor Rhys Byrne told the court police searched the Bli Bli home on July 5, 2021 where they located pure GHB in vessels with Jamie Dean’s fingerprints, as well as a small amount of the chemical GBL, used to make GHB, in Shane Dean’s bedroom.

“The police quickly ascertained dangerous drugs were being produced in the property, there was equipment and glassware and chemicals everywhere,” Mr Byrne said.

“In the garage was a container containing 566g of GHB that was in a reaction vessel, there was also another container in the kitchen which contained about 65g of GHB.”

Mr Byrne told the court a chemist estimated a maximum amount of 2kg of GHB could have been made with the chemicals located at the Bli Bli address, however he said there was no evidence the production was commercial.

Jesse Leo leaves the Maroochydore Court house on November 28, 2023.

Mr Byrne told the court Leo had then gone on to commit the additional drug supply charges while on bail.

“They found small amounts of dangerous drugs as well as what is often referred to as a tick sheet and a set of scales,” Mr Byrne said.

Leo’s defence barrister Nathan Turner told the court his client had been a painter before developing a drug problem later in life, adding the Bli Bli house had been his family’s home before his separation from his wife.

“It was the family home before his wife and children moved out, he refinanced it and then the Dean brothers moved in, until they moved in he didn’t know them but he rented rooms to them,” Mr Turner said.

District Court Judge Glen Cash addressed Leo before sentencing the trio, telling him there was “still hope for you” while adding Jamie Dean had the “one of the worst criminal histories that I have seen”.

Mr Cash sentenced Jamie Dean to two years behind bars, to be released on parole after serving eight months, Shane Dean was fined $300, with a conviction recorded and Leo was ordered to 12 months’ probation.