Nine people convicted in Toowoomba court of possessing dangerous drugs

From getting caught up in a police raid, discovered growing drugs in a backyard or found in a pocket while wearing someone else’s pants, here are nine people who have been convicted of dangerous drug possession.

Sit in the public gallery of Toowoomba’s courts on any given day and the chances are high that someone will have a matter heard that involves possession of a dangerous drug.

Whether they were caught up in a police drug raid, happened to be found holding drugs or had them stashed in an unusual hiding place, here are nine people who in the past year have made headlines when they were convicted of drug possession.

Man treated for police dog bites found with drugs in his bum

A 33-year-old offender being treated for police dog bite wounds at Toowoomba Hospital was found with a bag of meth up his bum.

Nathan James Ramsey had been directed by police to pull over while driving on Hursley Road at 3.30am, August 18 2021.

However, ignoring the direction he drove on but 15 minutes later his car ran over tyre deflation “stingers”, however continued to evade police until he was found hiding in bushes by the police dog squad where the canine latched onto him.

Taken to Toowoomba Hospital, he was being treated for the dog bite wounds when a clip seal bag with 3.4g of meth was found in his buttocks.

Ramsey pleaded guilty to 12 offences from that night including dangerous driving while adversely effected by an intoxicating substance, disqualified driving, evading police, obstructing police, trespassing and possessing dangerous drugs and ammunition.

Magistrate Kay Ryan sentenced him to 12 months’ jail, minus the 50 days he had already served, and ordered the term be suspended after he has served four months for 18 months.

Ramsey was disqualified from holding or obtaining a driver’s licence for five years.

Thug hid drugs up his bum to help in him sleep on watch house bunk

A career thug with 11-page criminal history littered with acts of violence blamed the police after he was caught hiding drugs in his bum.

The Toowoomba Magistrates Court heard Tyrone Michael Thomas Whittaker, 30, was being held in the Toowoomba watch house for several days in late October after he stole alcohol from a bottle shop and punched a man who had found his wallet in a motel.

Police prosecutor Natalie Bugden said Whitaker was unhappy with his food, and later police observed Whittaker using a “hand distraction” technique to flick a small aluminium foil package onto the ground before tucking it between his bum cheeks.

In December Whittaker pleaded guilty to 10 offences, including assault police, drug possession and assault occasioning bodily harm.

Magistrate Kay Ryan ordered a 20-month jail term, recorded 37 days in pre-sentence custody and set a parole release date at April 27, 2022.

Just 2g of cannabis enough for a jail term

It may only have been 2g of cannabis, but when you’re on parole for similar offending it makes for a far more serious penalty as Toowoomba man Robert Lindsay Rowe has discovered.

The 44-year-old appeared in Toowoomba Magistrates Court in August to plead guilty to possessing 2g of cannabis, electric scales for weighing drugs and clip seal bags for carrying them found during a police search of his North Toowoomba home on June 24.

Magistrate Graham Lee noted Rowe was subject to six months of parole imposed by the same court earlier that year. Mr Lee sentenced Rowe to six months in jail but ordered the whole term be suspended for 18 months and placed him on 18 months probation to include random drug testing.

Two police searches put woman before magistrate

While police were stopping vehicles in their search for a missing person they discovered something completely different.

Toowoomba woman Emma Jane Facey appeared in Toowoomba Magistrates Court in August last year where she pleaded guilty to two charges of possessing dangerous drugs, possessing utensils for use and contravening a direction of police.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Julia Wheaton said that on June 30 this year police were investigating a report of a missing person when they stopped a vehicle, where Facey was a passenger in the back seat, and 2.9g of cannabis was discovered.

Sgt Wheaton said police attended a property on Saturday, July 31 to execute a search warrant on an unrelated matter and found Facey as well as a handbag with her ID, 1.8g of cannabis and a glass pipe.

Facey told police the handbag was hers, but she was “unaware” how the drugs and pipe made it in her bag.

Magistrate Howard Osborne convicted Facey and fined her $600.

Convicted drug trafficker found in possession of ice, cannabis

A police search warrant on a Toowoomba property uncovered a stash of drugs and landed a man before supreme court.

Russel Vincent Gimm, 26, fronted Toowoomba Supreme Court in September where he pleaded guilty to possessing a controlled substance without a prescription and possession of methylamphetamine and cannabis.

The court was told that on June 24, 2020 police executed a search warrant on Gimm’s Toowoomba property and found a co-accused in his bedroom where 23.8g of MDMA was found on a bedside table with a set of scales.

Russel Vincent Gimm, 26, was convicted in Toowoomba Supreme Court for possessing dangerous drugs.

Crown prosecutor Ellen Fletcher said the search also uncovered 0.6g of methylamphetamine found in a sunglasses case and 96g of cannabis in separate quantities.

The court was told a day after the raid the co-accused attended Toowoomba Police Station to confess the MDMA was hers for personal use, as well as 91g of cannabis.

Gimm’s barrister Scott Lynch said his client was working to straighten his life out, and was living with family that had a “noticeable impact” on his attitude.

Justice Peter Callaghan sentenced Gimm to 18 months probation.

Bag of cannabis thrown out the window landed at cop’s feet

During a police search of his Toowoomba home, Kenneth Daniel Sinnamon had flicked a small bag of cannabis out of the window.

Unfortunately for him, the bag landed at the feet of a police officer standing outside.

The search turned up scales, scissors and a pipe associated with cannabis use and the bag that the 42-year-old had thrown out of the window was found to contain 1.8g of cannabis.

In court in August Sinnamon pleaded guilty to possessing dangerous drugs and drug related utensils and was sentenced to three months in jail with the whole term suspended for 12 months.

Using dead friend’s medication and having drugs leads to big fine

Having small amounts of illicit drugs and using someone else’s medication to help sleep has cost a Toowoomba man a $1200 fine.

Gregory Daniel Comin had been found with a total 2g of cannabis and a glass pipe, and three brass cones used for smoking the drug were found during a police search of a Commonwealth Street home in Clifton on July 13, 2020.

The 37-year-old told police all the items were his for his own use, Toowoomba Magistrates Court heard.

Another police search of a Murphys Creek residence on May 26 last year had turned up electric scales and grinder used in association with cannabis use as well as several boxes of medication which belonged to a woman who had lived at the address but had since died.

In court in July last year Comin pleaded guilty to possessing dangerous drugs and utensils and to three counts of possessing restricted drugs and was convicted and fined $1200.

Found with drugs in his pocket, man claimed the jeans weren’t his

A Toowoomba man found with drugs in his trouser pocket protested to police that the pants he was wearing were not his.

Jamie Allan Myers, 39, had been sitting in a broken down car with hazard lights on at the side of Esk-Hampton Road about 2am on June 5, when police approached, Toowoomba Magistrates Court heard in July.

A patdown search had found a small bag of white crystalline substance, suspected to be meth, in his jeans pocket, police prosecutor Natalie Bugden told the court, while a small quantity of cannabis was found in the vehicle.

Myers told police he was wearing someone else’s jeans and didn’t know what the substance was. The court was told Myers had borrowed the pants he was wearing when he was in the utility being towed.

Magistrate Graham Lee fined Myers $1200.

Toowoomba man found with 530g of cannabis was ‘self medicating’

A man found with more than half a kilogram of cannabis at his Toowoomba home claimed he had been self-medicating with the drug to help ease pain.

A police search of Kaleb John Thompson’s Toowoomba home on January 3 last year had found a shopping bag containing 465.9g of cannabis, 8.4g of “green leafy material” in clip seal bags, 1g in another clip seal bag and 55g of cannabis in another bag.

Also found were two pipes for smoking the drug, digital scales for weighing leaf and a number of empty clip seal bags, police prosecutor Natalie Bugden told Toowoomba Magistrates Court.

The 36-year-old told police all the items were hits and that he had it for his own personal use, as the disability pensioner had a number of illnesses and he had been self-medicating with the drug when experiencing bad pain.

Judge Howard Osborne placed Thompson on 12 months probation.

Originally published as Nine people convicted in Toowoomba court of possessing dangerous drugs