Danielle Hogan: Bondi influencer speaks in court over coke ring

A Bondi events planner caught up in a huge cocaine bust has spoken for the first time, claiming kingpins behind the $3.1 million operation threatened her parents when she raised concerns.

A glamorous Bondi party girl – who helped a dial-a-dealer cocaine ring rake in $3.1 million a year – has spoken for the first time, claiming the group forced her to ferry drugs across Sydney almost 400 times.

Danielle Tara Hogan, 26, told the Sydney District Court on Friday she “knew it was wrong immediately” when she learned the drug operation she was swept up in was bigger than just a few mates.

“After completing several deliveries I was quick to realise they completely downplayed their operations and that it was more than just a circle of friends,” she said in an affidavit tendered to court.

“They threatened me and drove me to my parents’ house with veiled threats towards them.

“Warning bells rang, I realised what I was doing was wrong and I had to get away from them, not only immediately, but smartly and quickly.

Hogan, pictured, was one of several “runners” who earned about $25 per transaction.

She pleaded guilty to commercial drug supply earlier this year.

“I quickly made excuses not to show up to shifts.”

Hogan told the court she did ask for shifts on several occasions, but only because she needed money to “cover rent and living expenses”.

Some of the texts read out on Friday show Hogan asked the syndicate if they would hire her “girlfriend”, who happened to have a young child.

She said it was a “selfish” attempt to get someone else in who could replace her.

Hogan, from North Bondi, admitted she delivered 580 bags of cocaine to cashed up customers on 370 separate occasions in late 2019 before giving up her criminal side hustle after her boyfriend found out.

Hogan outside the Downing Centre District Court today. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Jeremy Piper

She spent 12 days in jail on remand before she was eventually bailed. Photo Jeremy Piper

According to court documents Hogan sent a text to the group two weeks before her arrest stating: “Hey I’m sorry but I’m done. I’ve taken my pay $450 from yesterday, left everything in the safe, password is ‘c**t’. My partner found out I was doing this and I had a decision to make. Good luck with everythin’.”

That final shift was the last time she had any communication with the group, the documents state.

“I did become fearful of them within the first few weeks in these texts I was placing nice in a sense,” Hogan said while giving evidence on the stand.

Officers keeping tabs on the syndicate’s key players had covertly witnessed Hogan delivering a bag of cocaine to a customer on Castlereagh St, a transaction which would have netted “runners” like her just $25.

That surveillance, and thousands of texts, formed part of the 18,000 page case police formed against the former Instagram influencer.

Her arrest was one of several across Sydney by police targeting a “dial-a-dealer” network in late 2019.

The court was previously told the group supplied 200 bags of cocaine a week around Sydney which would have seen them take in close to $3.1 million a year.

At the time, Hogan was living in Sydney’s eastern suburbs and working as an event planner but would spend 12 days inside Silverwater Jail before she was released on bail.

In the months since that stint behind bars on remand, Hogan continued to run events around Sydney while she prepared for the prospect of heading back to prison when she was sentenced.

She was one of several people arrested in sweeping raids across the city on November 7 by Strike Force Northrop detectives tasked with smashing what was also described as a “pizza delivery” system for drug dealing.

Hogan is facing a maximum jail sentence of 20 years behind bars if convicted after she pleaded guilty to supplying a commercial quantity of cocaine earlier this year.

[e-mail]

Got a news tip? Email [e-mail]