Drug Kingpin and playboy Owen Hanson jailed for trafficking drugs into Australia

A PLAYBOY and drug kingpin will trade his glamorous life of pools and bikini-clad women for a jail cell.

Owen Hanson has agreed to a 20-year jail sentence. Picture: Owen Hanson/Facebook

A PLAYBOY and drug kingpin will trade his glamorous life of pools and bikini-clad women for a jail cell.

Owen Hanson, a Californian cocaine, heroin and steroids kingpin who boasted about trafficking large quantities of drugs at extraordinary prices to Australia, has agreed to a 20-year jail sentence in the US.

The 34-year-old was arrested at a golf course near San Diego in 2015, after a convert Australia and US operation, and his life went from riches to rags.

Owen Hanson was a former college football player. Picture: University of Southern California

The former college footballer entered guilty pleas in the US District Court in San Diego on Tuesday to racketeering conspiracy and conspiracy to distribute narcotics charges.

“Yes, your honour,” Hanson said quietly when Judge Mitchel Dembin asked if he agreed to the deal.

According to the plea deal, he admitted to running a drug trafficking, money laundering and illegal gambling operation that included selling drugs in Australia and the US.

The court heard some of his US clients were professional athletes.

Hanson agreed in court he was the founder and leader of ODOG, a criminal enterprise trafficking drugs including cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, ecstasy and steroids.

The Australian-US investigation, which began with the discovery in a Sydney hotel room in 2011 of a suitcase containing $702,000 cash, eventually led to Hanson and ODOG.

Hanson had boasted he could sell a kilogram of cocaine in Australia for about $238,000 compared to $27,000 in Los Angeles.

Owen Hanson has traded in his glamorous life for a jail cell. Picture: AAP/Twitter

The powerfully built Hanson, who played gridiron for the University of Southern California, had lived a playboy life.

His Twitter picture depicts himself smiling and shirtless by a pool with attractive women in bikinis.

Hanson was a regular visitor to Australia and Australian authorities were present when he was arrested at the golf course.

He originally faced extradition to Australia, but the US announced its own case months later.

Australian authorities may have to wait for his US jail sentence to end to prosecute him.

In exchange for the plea deal, prosecutors dropped two of the lesser charges he faced — money laundering conspiracy and operating an illegal gambling business.

The racketeering and narcotics distribution charges he entered guilty pleas to were the most serious and carried maximum sentences of life in prison.

While Hanson and prosecutors agreed to a 20-year sentence, it will be up to the judge at his March 20 sentencing in San Diego to decide his fate.

Originally published as Drug Kingpin and playboy Owen Hanson jailed for trafficking drugs into Australia