Thomas James Carlin parole eligibility date listed following meth, gel blaster bust

A Darling Downs man with a history of violence and drug charges will remain behind bars after being busted with drugs and ‘weapons’ by police.

A Darling Downs man with a history of violence and drug charges will remain behind bars after being busted with drugs and weapons by police.

Thomas James Carlin pleaded guilty on November 29, 2023 via videolink from custody to one charge each of possessing drugs and drug utensils, possessing medicine without a prescription, and a failing to secure a weapon charge.

The 32-year-old was busted on July 28 with meth, diazepam without a prescription, two scales and a straw for drug use, with police noticing he had a gel blaster which he failed to store properly, police prosecutor Sergeant Steve de Lissa said.

Thomas James Carlin appeared in Warwick Magistrates Court on Wednesday, 29 November, 2023.

The court was told that in 2022, Carlin was jailed for threatening three Warwick women in a car with a gel blaster.

Defence lawyer Sarah Campbell told the court how the drug addict was released on parole in January of this year for other offences, before personal tragedy led him to “numb the pain” with “significant quantities” of meth.

“His criminal history is serious and has serious violence and drug offences,” Ms Campbell said.

Magistrate Virginia Sturgess detailed grim past offending of the man, which dated back to 2009, including both drug and weapon offending in 2011, 2015, and 2017.

In August 2017, the man was sentenced to three years imprisonment for possessing drugs, and in 2018 was sentenced on a home invasion offence.

Carlin was sentenced to a cumulative six months imprisonment for the drug offences, and convicted and not further punished on other offences.

Parole eligibility was listed as 29 November, 2023.

He is expected to be released from custody regarding other legal matters on July 10, 2025.

Convictions were recorded.