Revealed: Geelong drug traffickers, growers and dealers
The Geelong Advertiser lifts the lid on the dealers, traffickers, growers and users who populate Geelong’s underworld. SEE THE LIST.
Geelong
Don't miss out on the headlines from Geelong. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Your next door neighbour could be a drug dealer.
It could be the guy delivering your pizza, the father of an AFL star looking to make a quick buck or even someone you bumped into outside a police a station.
Drugs have become an entrenched part of our communities and the sale and distribution of illicit substances underpins a secret underground economy, one that runs in concert with legitimate business but is populated by street dealers, sellers, growers and users.
Drug users and dealers come from all walks of life, and operations can vary in size – from a woman selling cannabis to family and friends, to sophisticated growing operations set up by “bikies”.
The National Drug Strategy Household Survey in 2022-23 estimated 47 per cent of Australians have illicitly used a drug.
In 2023, police recorded more than 1150 drug-related offences in Geelong at a rate of about 30 per 100,000 people, according to the Crime Statistics Agency.
The vast majority of these – 990 – were for possession, however 159 offences related to the trafficking, dealing, manufacture and cultivation of illicit drugs.
Last year, a magistrate slammed drug dealing as being “driven by greed”, and money is at the heart of many cases that make their way through the court system.
There’s the case of Bradley Withderden, the aforementioned father of an AFL star who turned to growing weed when debts reached his eyeballs, or Boeing employee Adam Kosic, who received a Godfather-type offer in a pub he just couldn’t refuse – to let cocaine traffickers set up shop in his shed.
Victoria Police Geelong investigation and response manager, Inspector Karl Curran, said while illicit drug dealing and trafficking in Geelong had decreased to levels “not seen in a decade”, combating drug-related crime was a priority for police.
“We understand that drug use often serves as a springboard to other serious crimes, which can have a significant impact on our community,” Inspector Curran said.
“There is no such thing as a safe illicit drug, particularly when manufactured by criminals with no regard for the people who take them.
“Dedicated detectives from our divisional response unit and crime investigation unit work around the clock to arrest and disrupt anyone manufacturing or trafficking drugs.”
Addressing illicit substance use, including GHB and methylamphetamine – also known as ice – is a community-wide issue which requires a collaborative approach to address.
Harm reduction can take many forms, and while police play a lead role in reducing drug harm by disrupting the supply of illicit drugs, education, prevention and early intervention initiatives are important.
Here are some of the most bizarre cases from Geelong’s drug underworld.
Broderick Gist
Broderick Gist was caught with 10 grams of meth, digital scales, almost $3000 in cash and deal bags – but he told a court it was for personal use.
The 26-year-old was found on New Year’s Day with digital scales, small plastic deal bags, hundreds of dollars in cash and 200mls of what was believed to be GHB.
Gist was nabbed again 10 days later, with $2400 cash stuffed in his underwear, 10 grams of ice, Xanax pills, GHB and plastic deal bags.
While he was only charged with possession, the presence of scales, deal bags and large amounts of cash raised a few eyebrows in court when Gist pleaded guilty in March.
Nonetheless, Gist claimed it was all for personal use, a suggestion the prosecution slammed as “ludicrous”.
Gist was convicted and sentenced by magistrate Simon Guthrie to seven months in jail and a 12-month community corrections order.
READ MORE.
Anh Ho
Police were raiding a Norlane drug house, seizing ice, cannabis and cash, when Anh Ho rolled up with an associate.
Ho was in the passenger seat of a car, and aroused suspicion when he tried to avoid being seen.
Officers searched the car, finding three bags of ice, two phones and more than $3000 in cash inside.
Ho pleaded guilty to drug trafficking in January last year – the court heard he was found with a total of 87.6g of ice, 78 per cent pure, valued at between $10,000 and $15,000.
Analysis of Ho’s phone revealed text messages suggesting he was trafficking.
Inside the drug house, police found 15 syringes of ice, ziplock bags of cannabis and just under $3000 in cash.
Magistrate Peter Mellas found that Ho was “in the business of trafficking”.
Ho was convicted and sentenced to 134 days, which had already been served, as well as a 24-month community corrections order.
Alyissa Mitchell
Alyissa Mitchell kept a notebook detailing her involvement in drug trafficking, and a cocktail of illicit substances including LSD, cocaine, ice cannabis and ketamine were found in her home.
Mitchell pleaded guilty to a litany of charges, including drug trafficking, in August last year.
Police raided the Breakwater woman’s home in March 2023, following a traffic stop in February.
Police found hundreds of Xanax tablets in her car, and a golf stick handle with a razor blade attached to the end, and multiple bags of ice.
Magistrate John Bentley told Mitchell to stay away from some of her associates, and told the court she needed “urgent help”.
She was given a good behaviour bond without conviction.
Tyler Gee
Tyler Gee was another dealer who kept notes detailing sales, names and amounts.
Police found the 23-year-old slumped over asleep at the wheel of her car in Norlane in December.
Along with five pages of notes, police found a bag contained GHB, MDMA and ice, as well as digital scales, a ziplock bag contained 500 deal bags, a large bottle containing 140ml of GHB and $335 in cash.
Since her arrest, Gee – who now resides in Sunshine – has turned her life around and “walked the walk” of rehabilitation.
Magistrate Peter Mellas sentenced her to a community corrections order without conviction.
Roselyn Ann Burke
A notebook was also found during a search of drug dealer Roselyn Ann Burke’s house last year.
The St Albans Park woman pleaded guilty to drug driving and trafficking marijuana, which she said was to family and friends for no profit.
During a raid on her home, police found the notebook, along with a set of scales and messages on her phone from people asking for drugs.
Burke also drove with drugs in her system, despite her licence being disqualified.
She was convicted, banned from driving for three years and sentenced to an 18 month community corrections order.
Magistrate Ann McGarvie said Burke was “skating on thin ice” given her driving history.
Adam Kosic
A former aerospace worker, Adam Kosic received an offer he couldn’t refuse in a pub and “rented out” his garage to cocaine traffickers.
The 51-year-old was overheard complaining about his finances when he was propositioned.
When police raided his home, they found hundreds of grams of “cutting agents” in the garage, along with cocaine, ziplock and deal bags, scales and even a homemade hydraulic press.
In his home itself, police found cash and a notebook with various dollar figures – which the court heard was related to a “poker game on the internet”.
Magistrate John Bentley told Kosic he’d been “played” in allowing his home to be used by the traffickers.
Kosic’s lawyer, Simon Northeast, said his client was a “patsy” and a “scapegoat”.
He was convicted and fined $1000.
READ MORE.
Brendan Farrugia
Brendan Farrugia told police he’d also received an offer he couldn’t refuse – alleging “bikies” had threatened him into letting them set up a drug lab in his concreting business.
Court documents revealed that the 39-year-old gave police a tour of the cannabis growing operation at the property in February 2021.
Inside an Anakie shed, police found sophisticated hydroponic cannabis growing system, including lights, shrouds, watering systems, pots and tubs filled with grow medium.
However police were never able to substantiate his allegations of bikie threats, and Farrugia declined to complete a record of interview.
Police were unable to link the information he provided to any crimes.
Farrugia was convicted and completed a good behaviour bond earlier this month.
Bradley Witherden
Bradley Witherden, the father of AFL star Alex Witherden, turned to growing cannabis in dire financial straits.
Witherden pleaded guilty earlier this month to cultivating a narcotic plant and possession of cannabis.
A carpenter by trade, Witherden had fallen into debt and concocted a scheme to grow cannabis to pay the money he owed.
Using “second-hand” equipment and YouTube videos from America, Witherden turned an upstairs room in a Norlane factory into a hydroponic grow room.
The scheme might have paid off – if it wasn’t for the factory being burgled, resulting in police following a trail of cannabis leaves to the drug lab.
He was sentenced to a 12-month community corrections order, including 100 hours of unpaid community work, without conviction.
Patrick Bairamidis
Like Witherden, Ocean Grove’s Patrick Bairamidis operated a drug lab from a factory.
In June last year, Bairamidis faced the Geelong Magistrates Court, and was fined $1500, without conviction.
Bairamidis’ “sophisticated” operation including a hydroponic grow room in the Adco Grove property he leased.
Police found 15 medium-sized mature cannabis plants and 15 juvenile plants when they raided the factory in December 2021.
The crop weighed more than 10kg, and a CCTV camera system had been installed.
The matter was drawn out, as Bairamidis failed to appear in court on three occasions.
Although the 31-year-old avoided a trafficking charge, magistrate John Bentley said it was a “quite sophisticated set-up for someone who was growing it for himself”.
“They all say they are growing it for themselves,” Mr Bentley said.
Bairamidis was ordered to pay $1500 and spared a conviction.
James Rowles
Drug dealer James Rowles concocted his own plan to get money, luring a man to a Corio home to rob him.
Rowles pleaded guilty in September last year to robbery, drug trafficking and receiving stolen goods.
His lawyer told the court Rowles had “fallen into a milieu of drug dependency” and was struggling to make ends meet at the time.
It was during the investigation into the robbery that Rowles’ trafficking was revealed in conversations found on a co-offender’s phone.
When police searched his home, police found five bags of ice and a stolen registration plate.
Rowles was convicted and sentenced to an aggregate sentence of 181 days’ imprisonment in combination with an 18 month community correction order.
Jordan Jewell
Ocean Grove pizza delivery driver Jordan Jewell was busted with a “significant” amount of drugs and scales after police caught him driving erratically.
Jewell and another man were behaving “nervously” when the car was intercepted by police, so officers searched inside and found 56g of amphetamines, along with deal bags and scales.
Like Gist, Jewell claimed it was all for personal use, however magistrate Malcolm Thomas rejected that argument.
Mr Thomas said while he would not sentence Jewell on a charge of trafficking amphetamines, he said he could “draw the inference” with the presence of scales and deal bags that “it is not simply for personal use”.
“This is a drug measured in the thousands of dollars. It’s drugs that are often consumed in points and people who come to this court with drug addictions often come to court with 0.8g, 2.5g,” Mr Thomas said.
“I’ve got someone driving around in a vehicle with 56g.”
Jewell was imprisoned for one month and placed on a community corrections order.
Jed Jeanes
Jed Jeanes met two undercover police officers outside Geelong Police Station on May 31, 2022.
After striking up a conversation, Jeanes got a lift home from the two officers, where he then pointed out where drugs and firearms were located.
For the ride home, Jeanes supplied an officer with 1,4 Butanediol, and a few weeks later, sold two litres of the drug for more than $5000, along with a shotgun for $7000.
Police raided his home where they found $2600 in cash, guns and ammunition, and cocaine, cannabis and meth.
In March, the Mount Duneed father was jailed for four years, with a minimum of two years and six months before he’s eligible for parole.
More Coverage
Originally published as Revealed: Geelong drug traffickers, growers and dealers
Budget stretched, but shiny new council HQ was ‘not a mistake’
Geelong council’s 850 properties under the gun as part of aggressive push to drive down debt, but the city’s shiny new $102m headquarters “likely” to be spared, Mayor Stretch Kontelj says.
Pako patisserie shut its doors but owners have baked up new plan
Tough times made it hard to make a crust on the famed Geelong shopping strip but these bakers aren’t just loafing around.