Toowoomba courts locked up 15 dealers on serious drug charges
The sentences for drug offences range from a warning to 25 year in jail. Here are 15 Darling Downs dealer who pleaded guilty to the most severe of drug crimes.
Toowoomba
Don't miss out on the headlines from Toowoomba. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Every day dozens of people appear in front of the Toowoomba Magistrates Court, the Toowoomba District Court and the Toowoomba Supreme Court.
These are 15 people that have appeared in court on matters relating to drug trafficking and drug dealing.
1. Olivia Kayla Watson
Watson took over her partners meth dealing business after he was jailed earlier this year and it did not take police long to catch her in the act.
On December 10, the Toowoomba Supreme Court heard the 30-year-old Dalby dealer sold methamphetamine in quantities from 0.1g to two ounces over a Facebook and via and encrypted app.
When police raided Watson’s home, they found 13g of pure ice.
The court heard all of this took place while Watson was on parole, which resulted in a very long jail sentence.
2. Steven Michael Barton
A PRISON performance report handed up in the Toowoomba Supreme Court told of a man who was polite, keen to work and got along well with the jail staff.
And Toowoomba man Steven Michael Barton will remain behind bars for at least six months, when he becomes eligible for parole.
Barton, 31, faced a Supreme Court judge on December 11, where he pleaded guilty to one count of drug trafficking and several lesser drug offences.
The court heard Barton earned about $2500 a week, made his customers pay upfront and complained to his supplier when his competitors were given wholesale amounts of methamphetamine on credit.
3. Cindy-Jay Margaret Draper
If Cindy-Jay Margaret Draper commits another drug offence in the next four years she will be returned to custody to serve at least part of a three-year jail sentence.
On December 8, the Toowoomba Supreme Court heard Draper, 33, trafficked in a range of drugs, including methamphetamine, cannabis, LSD and GHB over a three-week period in 2019.
While the Crown Prosecutor told the court Draper had plans to grow her business, her Barrister down played her ambition.
“The offending was amateurish,” he said.
4. Mercedes Rose Connelly
YEARS ago, Mercedes Rose Connelly’s boyfriend spiked her pre-workout drink with methamphetamine to encouraged her to spend more time in the gym, a court has heard.
While it may have worked, the spiking had the unintended consequence of getting Connelly hooked on meth and set her on a path to jail.
Connelly, 30, appeared in Toowoomba Supreme Court yesterday to plead guilty to one count of drug trafficking, after she sold ice in what was described as a street-level operation.
5. Becky-Lee Rametta
IN THE past six years, the courts have treated Becky-Lee Rametta with mercy.
As her drug offending escalated, she was given community-based detention orders, including suspended jail sentences, probation and parole.
But on December 9 she ran out of second chances, with Supreme Court Justice Thomas Bradley handing down an 18-month jail term for trafficking, supplying and possessing dangerous drugs.
6. Brody James Smith
BRODY James Smith kept his mouth shut when police kicked in the door to his Toowoomba home on February 7.
But despite his silence, police found more than 53g of pure methamphetamine, 12.3g of pure MDMA and 2.23g of pure cocaine stashed under his bathroom floor boards.
Police also seized two firearms; a loaded 22 calibre handgun and a pellet pistol.
7. Beau Jordan Laffey
BEAU Jordan Laffey met his newborn child through the polished glass panes of the Supreme Court dock after they were separated by his 260 days of pre-sentence custody and the strict limits on prison visits during the COVID-19 pandemic,
Sadly for Laffey and his child, it will be at least another six months before they meet again after he was jailed for a series of drug offences.
The 25-year-old Toowoomba man appeared in the Supreme Court on December 9 to plead guilty to trafficking methamphetamine, from November 28, 2019 to February 8, 2020.
8. Bryton Paul Delaney
The Toowoomba Supreme Court heard Bryton Paul Delaney hid in cupboard with his partner when police came knocking, in May 2019.
Along with finding Delaney curled up in the cupboard, police located 2.01 grams of meth, a collection of drug utensils, tainted property, a mobile phone and $1990 in suspected drug money.
“You were involved in the supply of drugs for profit,” Justice Martin Burns said.
“That is the very essence of the charge of trafficking.”
Delaney was jailed after he pleaded guilty to one count of drug trafficking and four lesser drug charges.
9. David Rodney Werner
For about six months, David Rodney Werner headed to the Quart Pot Creek in Stanthorpe with his fishing gear in hand, but the only catch he had on the line was the town’s meth addicts.
The Toowoomba Supreme Court heard the 38-year-old man trafficked in meth from November 28, 2017 to June 12, 2018, making $1500 each day.
Judge Burns ordered a head sentence of six years in jail for the trafficking charge.
Noting Werner’s lengthy pre-sentence custody, Judge Burns set Werner’s parole eligibility date at May 19, 2021.
10. Matt Ashley Daniells
A wrongful charge for armed robbery derailed Matt Ashley Daniells’ life.
He was placed on strict bail conditions that included a curfew, and as a result he lost his job in the mines.
It also prompted the breakdown of his long-term relationship and an escalation of his meth addiction.
The Toowoomba Supreme Court heard Daniells used the drug to “mask the serious issues” he faced until the robbery charges were dropped in May 2019.
But Daniells also used the drug as a source of income.
Daniels pleaded guilty to 12 counts of supplying a dangerous drug, one count of trafficking and one of suppling a category H weapon.
11. Chanse Patrick Currie
A young man’s attempt to turn a profit at the Rabbits Eat Lettuce music festival came undone after he was stopped en route for a drug test.
Not only did police detect the presence of cannabis in Chanse Patrick Currie’s saliva but a search of his car found a kaleidoscope of drugs.
The Toowoomba Supreme Court heard police uncovered three clip-seal bags containing a brown powder, three clip-seal bags containing white crystals, 63 capsules, two cardboard tabs, a clip-seal plastic bag of tablet fragments and a vial of brown liquid.
Justice Burns ordered a head sentence of two and half years in jail, with immediate parole.
12. Oskar Jack Tranter
A talented musician could have put his burgeoning career in jeopardy by trafficking drugs on the streets of Toowoomba.
Just two weeks after his 18th birthday, Oskar Jack Tranter started supplying mainly cannabis but also MDMA (ecstasy) to a customer base of about 20 people from late 2018 to mid-2019, Toowoomba District Court heard.
During the nine months of trafficking, the now 20-year-old had supplied drugs on 35 occasions including ecstasy on nine occasions.
Tranter was sentenced to 30 months’ jail but released on immediate parole.
13. Andrew James Crosbie
A TOOWOOMBA man went from having a clean criminal history to receiving a nine-month jail sentence after he was caught up in a police drug operation that targeted another man.
The Toowoomba District Court heard that Andrew James Crosbie, 43, supplied methamphetamine to a dealer whose phone was being monitored by police.
Crown prosecutor Matt Le Grand told the court Crosbie arranged to sell one gram of meth to the subject of the covert police operation on November 3, 2019.
14. Michael Steven Patch-Metzroth
A TOOWOOMBA man jailed for a 10-year drug trafficking business admitted he started dealing cannabis when he was just 13 years old.
Michael Steven Patch-Metzroth, 24, kicked off what became a decade long addiction to various drugs after he stole some of his mother’s cannabis to smoke when he was just 13 years old, the Supreme Court at Toowoomba was told.
He started selling the cannabis to his friends and after a while was selling to support his own habit, Crown prosecutor Mark Green told the court.
By the time he was 20, Patch-Metzroth had dealt in most drugs including cocaine, ecstasy, meth and cannabis.
15. Geoffrey Russell Francis
GEOFFREY Russell Francis had been paroled from prison for a little over two weeks before he returned to his now familiar profession of trafficking methamphetamine.
The Toowoomba Supreme Court heard that Francis sold the dangerous drug to 36 customers, from July 25 to August 15, 2019.
Crown prosecutor Shontelle Petrie said it was a wholesale business.
“He supplied in the range of 1.75 grams to, at times, a full ounce,” she said.
“He received cash as well as other items, such as jewellery.”
The court heard police searched the 37-year-old’s Gatton home on August 14, 2019 and recovered 11.278 grams of pure methamphetamine, a taser, a pen gun, ammunition, drug utensils, digital scales and $730 in cash.
Originally published as Toowoomba courts locked up 15 dealers on serious drug charges
Gallery: Perfect weather for sunflower picking
A sunflower field northwest of Toowoomba has attracted eager crowds for their pick-your-own sessions. See the colourful photos in our gallery here.
Bargains galore: Toowoomba Swap Meet 2025
Collectors wallets were burning with the range of bargains and rare finds at the Toowoomba Swap Meet on Saturday.