Queensland Government Statistician’s Office reveals 166.5 per cent increase in drug offences over past nine years
With Toowoomba recording the biggest increase in reported drug offences across Queensland over the past nine years, see how Darling Downs methylamphetamine dealers were brought down.
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A crime report from the Queensland Government Statistician’s Office has revealed that Toowoomba recorded the biggest increase in drug offences across the state over the past nine years.
While recorded drug offences dropped 11.9 per cent from 2019-20 to 2020-2021, they increased by a massive 166.5 per cent from 2011-12.
That year there were 1195 recorded drug offences at a rate of 821.6 per 100,000 persons.
In 2020-21 a total of 3520 drug offences were recorded at a rate of 2189.6 per 100,000 people.
Townsville recorded the second largest increase in drug offences during the past nine years, with a 123 per cent increase from 2011-12 to 2020-2021.
In the broader Darling Downs-Maranoa region there was a 49.2 decline in drug offences from 2019-20 to 2020-21, and a 63.3 per cent rise from 2011-12 to 2020-21.
With methylamphetamine continuing to plague the Darling Downs here are 18 people convicted of supplying and trafficking the drug over the past 12 months.
Caige Nathaniel Grant
The convicted drug trafficker was out of jail on parole for just six weeks when he returned to dealing drugs.
Caige Nathaniel Grant had been sentenced in the Toowoomba Supreme Court to a total four-and-a-half year jail term in August 2019 after pleading guilty to trafficking dangerous drugs, the same court heard in February 2022.
After serving 15 months in pre-sentence custody, which couldn’t be declared under that sentence, he was given a sentence of three years and three months.
However, once the 27-year-old was released from jail on parole on December 16, 2019, six weeks later he was back selling ice while on parole.
Grant pleaded guilty to trafficking methamphetamine and to possessing the drug in a quantity above 2g and he was sentenced to four years in jail, but would be eligible to apply for release on parole as of May 28, 2022.
Crystal Sky Cumming
The Toowoomba woman pleaded guilty to supplying methylamphetamine, though the prosecution conceded there was no proof the deals were completed.
Cumming was detected by police targeting another person in 2019, Toowoomba District Court was told in March 2022.
Messages from Cumming were found on the target man’s phone and both texts purported to suggest separate supplies of methylamphetamine.
However, the supply charges had arisen from acts preparatory to supplying the drug and that there was no evidence either transaction had been completed.
Cumming, 27, pleaded guilty to two counts of supplying meth to another, one on January 10, 2019, the other on March 6, 2019. Cumming was sentenced to six months in jail, the whole term suspended immediately for two years, and two years probation.
David Andrew Weribone
The 52-year-old man trafficked methylamphetamine in the southwest town of St George daily for more than four months to a customer base of about 20 from June to December 2019, Toowoomba Supreme Court was told in February 2022.
Crown prosecutor Nigel Rees told the court Weribone’s drug dealing was generally at “street level” but it had been with some persistence.
“It was a persistent business which only ceased when he was remanded in custody,” he said.
Weribone pleaded guilty to trafficking, four counts of supplying a dangerous drug and to one of possessing a “thing” used to supply a drug.
Justice David Boddice sentenced Weribone to three years in jail but ordered he be released immediately on parole.
Megan Louise Ronan
The mother of four had been introduced to drugs and drug dealing by her partner, and paid the price when she was convicted of trafficking methylamphetamine in Toowoomba Supreme Court in December 2021 after pleading guilty to trafficking dangerous drugs.
Ronan had trafficked methylamphetamines around Toowoomba for almost a year from May 18, 2018, to May 2, 2019.
The 49-year-old mother of four had a customer base of about 33 though she had a regular customer base of about 10.
Justice Martin Burns accepted Ronan’s partner had introduced her to the drug world, but that they each had separate drug selling businesses.
Ronan was sentenced to three years in jail however Justice Burns ordered she be released on parole on September 15, 2022, after she had served nine months of the term.
Michael Allan Woolacott
Self rehabilitation and the dedication to turn his life around saved the 27-year-old former drug user and trafficker from being returned to jail after he pleaded guilty to trafficking methylamphetamine and cannabis.
Toowoomba Supreme Court was told in February 2022 Woolacott trafficked drugs almost daily over a four-month period in the Dalby area between May 8, 2019, and August 31, 2019, building a customer base of about 48 to whom he supplied the drug at what was considered “street level”.
Justice David Boddice sentenced Woolacott to three years jail, with his immediate release on parole.
Lyneeka Ann Wilson
Darling Downs mother-of-two Lyneeka Ann Wilson ran such a large meth operation, she had accumulated more than $410,000 in just five months.
Wilson pleaded guilty to a number of drug offences, including trafficking methylamphetamine, when she was convicted and sentenced in Toowoomba Supreme Court in September 2021.
The court was told for five months between July and December in 2019 the 38-year-old was involved in selling wholesale quantities of methylamphetamine to other drug dealers, as well as street level users for both financial gain and to support her habit.
Justice Peter Callaghan described her offending as “sickening” that exerted an influence across southeast Queensland.
Wilson was handed a nine year jail term, with two years behind bars. She will be eligible for parole on September 23, 2023.
Jake William Dwan
Over a seven month period, Jake William Dwan trafficked methylamphetamine to 20 people in Warwick and the surrounding district to feed his own meth habit.
The 25-year-old was subject to a parole order for a previous sentence of peddling ice, ecstasy and cannabis in the Warwick area over a six week period in 2016 when he was caught in June 27, 2019.
Though it was accepted his own addiction drove his trafficking, there had been some commercial element as Dwan had boosted his bank account by $54,000 over the same period.
In December 2021 Justice Martin Burns sentenced Dwan to five years in jail, to commence after he had served the 15 months remaining on his last sentence, but ordered he be eligible to apply for release on parole as of December 10, 2022.
Skye Crystal Maas
Motivated by her own addiction, a 31-year-old Toowoomba woman became “very much a hardened drug dealer”, trafficking methylamphetamine to more than 20 people in a three month time period.
Skye Crystal Maas had been found with 12.4g of substance of which 9.346g was found to be pure meth after a police search of her then Gowrie Mountain home on July 25, 2019.
Also found was a small amount of cannabis, pipes for smoking it, scales for weighing drugs and used syringes including two which were loaded with meth, Toowoomba Supreme Court heard in June 2021.
Maas pleaded guilty to trafficking and possessing meth as well to associated charges including having a mobile phone used for trafficking drugs.
Taking into account her efforts at rehabilitation while in prison, Justice Martin Burns sentenced Maas to five and a half years in jail but ordered she be eligible to apply for release on parole as of September 9 this year.
Holly Jade Matthews
A Dalby woman who supplied quantities of up to an ounce of methylamphetamine at a time in a serious drug operation went beyond the need to supply her own addiction.
Holly Jade Matthews, 28, pleaded guilty to trafficking in dangerous drugs in Toowoomba between July and August 2020, during which time she had six regular customers that she would supply quantities of up to an ounce to, as well as supplying to her own drug dealer.
In December 2021 her barrister Scott Lynch said she battled with a severe drug addiction for some time, and while the period of trafficking was short, but were above “street level” quantities.
Despite earlier stating that Matthews “was just not a candidate” for a suspended sentence due to her “intense and disturbing” criminal history, Justice Martin Burns handed her four years behind bars, suspended for five years.
Tyler Maree Scoones
A drug dealing Toowoomba mum was released from prison after she was sentenced for trafficking meth over a two-month period from November 28, 2019, and to possessing meth, MDMA (ecstasy) and cocaine in amounts above the 2g schedule as well as to possessing cannabis and two handguns when arrested on February 7, 2020.
The court was told in December 2021 the 28-year-old fell into drug dealing after developing an addiction to painkillers, then methylamphetamine, after a serious car crash.
Noting the 676 days she had spent in pre-sentence custody, Justice Martin Burns sentenced Scoones to four and a half years in jail but ordered the whole term be suspended to hang over her head for the next five years.
Scoones was also placed on the maximum three years probation which would include random drug testing with any positive test deemed a breach of the order.
Billy Jay Gimm
A judge that had been coming to Toowoomba for seven years, and sentenced countless drug offenders, said no one had ever apologised to the community for their harmful actions until Billy Jay Gimm’s heartfelt letter to the court was tendered.
The 31-year-old pleaded guilty to trafficking methylamphetamine, and two charges of supplying gamma-Hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) in Toowoomba Supreme Court in December.
The court was told Gimm had a long problem with addiction that saw him sell drugs to support his habit.
“I think about how I lost everything and how many other lives this may have happened to also. I can’t take back what I have done, and I have nightmares over losing my family,” Gimm’s letter said.
Gimm was convicted and handed a three-year prison sentence, suspended for four years, as well as three years probation.
Given Gimm had to serve out the remainder of the prison term imposed in 2019, as the trafficking offences took place while he was on parole, he will be eligible for release in February 9 2022.
James Lawrence Rountree-Whitmore
As a young boy, all James Lawrence Rountree-Whitmore wanted to do was be a motocross rider and make his parents proud, a court was told.
In September last year a judge gave him a second chance at both when the 21-year-old was spared time behind bars after he was convicted of trafficking methylamphetamine.
In Toowoomba Supreme Court in September the Goondiwindi man pleaded guilty to trafficking a dangerous drug, and six charges of supplying a dangerous drug.
The court was told Rountree-Whitmore’s life began to take a turn once he started working on a station at 17 with other men, where from “sunset to sunrise” they would drink, and he formed an alcohol addiction which would eventually lead him to lose his job and fall in with a “bad crowd” and eventually become addicted to meth.
In convicting and sentencing Rountree-Whitmore to 200 hours community service, Justice Peter Callaghan said it was a chance to “give something back to the community for the trouble you’ve caused”.
Rountree-Whitmore was also handed a three year suspended jail sentence.
Clayton Lindsay Mobbs
Goondiwindi man Clayton Lindsay Mobbs, 22, had a customer base of about 20 people and gloated that “he was one of the main drug dealers in town”.
In Toowoomba Supreme Court in June 2021 Mobbs pleaded guilty to trafficking meth, MDMA (ecstasy) and cannabis in Goondiwindi over a three-month period from January 24, 2020 after he had been introduced to drugs by friends.
Justice Martin Burns noted by material handed up to the court that Mobbs had since completed a Drug Arm rehabilitation program, had thrown himself into work seven days a week on a property outside Goondiwindi and had cut ties with former associates.
Justice Burns sentenced Mobbs to three years in jail but ordered he be released immediately on parole.
Tristan Charles Bradley
A drug dealer with an ice habit continued to supply drug after he was charged with trafficking in an offence that smacked of the nature of addiction.
Tristan Charles Bradley appeared in Toowoomba Supreme Court in September where he pleaded guilty to a raft of drug charges, including trafficking methylamphetamine and three charges of supplying the same drug.
The court was told the 30 year old was a street level supplier, selling quantities of around 0.1g to 0.5g, with Crown prosecutor Ellen Fletcher describing Bradley’s modus operandi as buying up to 1g of ice and packaging it into smaller quantities to sell to recoup the cost of his own drug addiction.
Bradley was convicted and sentenced to 18 months behind bars, with immediate parole.
Daniel James Vane
A 24-year-old Daniel James Vane paid off a debt to his brother by supplying drugs to others for him.
Crown prosecutor Shontelle Petrie told the court in February Vane had over a period in April and May 2020 supplied the drugs on six occasions.
That included supplying a total 10.5g of meth and 1lb 2oz (510g) of cannabis, Ms Petrie said.
Vane pleaded guilty to six counts of supplying a dangerous drug and to one of possessing a dangerous drug.
Judge Horneman-Wren sentenced Vane to 15 months in jail. However, he ordered he be released immediately on parole.
Bo Austin Moorcroft
A Goondiwindi man caught supplying drugs by police targeting other drug traffickers in the town has been spared actual jail time.
Bo Austin Moorcroft had been caught up in the police operation targeting drug dealers from whom he was sourcing his own meth, Toowoomba District Court heard in October.
The then 23-year-old was found to have actually supplied meth on three occasion and another three he had offered to supply, the last being in July 2020 and he had been on bail since, Crown prosecutor Ellen Fletcher told the court.
The now 25-year-old pleaded guilty to six counts of supplying a dangerous drug and to possessing drug paraphernalia.
Noting he was already on probation, Judge Horneman-Wren sentenced Moorcroft to 12 months jail but suspended the whole term for 18 months.
Tanya Madge Nelson
A budgie breeder who attempted to use bird-related code to conceal her drug dealing operation from police was jailed for four years in September 2021.
St George woman Tanya Madge Nelson was sentenced in the Toowoomba Supreme Court after pleading guilty to trafficking methylamphetamine.
Nelson was convicted and sentenced to a four year jail term, with a non parole period of six months, as well as three years probation.
Ricky Edward Thompson
A “persistent but amateurish” drug operation that lasted for 14 months in the Darling Downs was brought down after police intercepted the phone messages of an ice user.
Ricky Edward Thompson appeared in Toowoomba Supreme Court in September 2021 where he pleaded guilty to trafficking dangerous drugs between January 2019 and September 2020.
After spending 355 behind bars Thompson was convicted and sentenced to three years jail, with immediate parole.
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