Ethan Dendle: Ric’s Bar MDMA dealer sentenced in court
A Brisbane man cashed out his super under a Covid-19 support program and used the money to fund an enormous MDMA trafficking operation, a court has heard.
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A young Brisbane man cashed out his superannuation last year under a Federal Government COVID-19 support program and used the money to fund an enormous MDMA trafficking operation, a court has heard.
Fortitude Valley man Ethan John Dendle, 26, pleaded guilty in Brisbane Supreme Court on Thursday to eight offences.
They included, most seriously, trafficking in mainly MDMA but also cannabis, possessing a commercial quantity of MDMA, and burglary.
The trafficking operation occurred between July 15 and September 4 last year in Fortitude Valley.
Dendle primarily sold MDMA in the nightclub precinct and especially at popular watering hole Ric’s Bar, the court heard.
Phone records illustrated Dendle supplied MDMA on at least 41 occasions to 20 customers, although the true scale of his operation, including profit gleaned, was not able to be determined.
Dendle sold amounts to end users but also to other dealers in quantities of up to at least 35 capsules.
He was busted following a search warrant at his residence on September 3.
The search uncovered 14.8g pure MDMA, comprising several “large crystal rocks” and smaller quantities elsewhere, in 20.75g of substance.
He admitted to police to buying MDMA by the ounce but denied he was a dealer.
Three days after the search warrant, on September 7 Dendle entered a staff-only area of a hostel and stole a backpack while under the effects of alcohol or drugs.
He was admitted to hospital two days later after becoming “floridly psychotic”, described as his rock bottom.
His ongoing rehabilitation has been patchy, for although he has found a new job there was evidence he had been diluting his urine samples to disguise the presence of dangerous drugs, the court heard.
Justice Soraya Ryan said it was only Dendle’s youth which kept him out of custody.
He was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment, wholly suspended for five years, and placed on parole for two-and-a-half years.
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