Bowral Concrete Pumping owner Mark Anthony Gualtieri drove with cocaine in his system

A tradie has narrowly avoided jail time after being busted driving his 39-tonne concreting truck to work with drugs detectable in his system.

A local business owner has narrowly avoided serving jail time after he was busted for seven serious driving offences related to his “serious cocaine problem”, including driving a 39-tonne concrete truck with drugs in his system.

Mark Anthony Gualtieri, 46, appeared in Moss Vale Local Court on Thursday after pleading guilty to four counts of driving while disqualified, three counts of driving with drugs in his system and a charge of drug possession.

The Bowral resident owns local company Bowral Concrete Pumping and holds a heavy vehicle licence to drive around the concrete pump truck, according to court documents.

Police facts show Gualtieri had been disqualified from driving in October last year until this October when further driving offences pushed his disqualification back to February 2022.

Bowral business owner Mark Anthony Gualtieri narrowly avoided jail after being busted for seven serious driving offences. Picture: Facebook

At around 2.45pm on March 18, police saw Gualtieri driving and stopped him on Old Bowral Rd in Mittagong to ask why he was driving. Police facts say he retorted “I’m disqualified, you know that” before he returned a positive result to a roadside drug test.

Police facts show Gualtieri had methamphetamine and cocaine in his system. When asked if he had any drugs, court documents show Gualtieri pulled two clear resealable bags filled with a white powder from underneath the floor mat.

When police searched him, agreed facts state they found two more bags of white powder in his pants pocket. The court heard Gualtieri admitted to police the 1.5 grams of cocaine was for personal use.

On May 8, Gualtieri was driving his cement pump truck on the Hume Highway near Berrima when he was pulled over for a random breath test.

A roadside drug test revealed he had cocaine in his system at the time, according to police facts. The police facts also stated that Gualtieri confessed to having a “heavy cocaine habit”.

He also told police he had continued to drive while disqualified because he didn’t trust any of his employees to drive the heavy concrete truck.

Police facts reveal Mark Anthony Gualtieri tested positive for having drugs in his system. (file photo).

Despite the incident, Gualtieri was back on the roads on April 9 when police stopped him outside Bowral Coles. He told police he needed to “get around”.

Later that month on April 30, he was nabbed in Gregory Hills for again driving while disqualified with cocaine in his system.

Gualtieri’s lawyer said the combination of “ingrained work ethic, poor business practices, and cocaine” led to the repetitive criminal behaviour.

“What we’re looking at is a constellation of the continuation of the same set of circumstances,” he said.

The court heard Gualtieri was under great pressure because his concreting business was in debt for $800,000. Ironically, the court heard Gualtieri poured the concrete of a jail in which he spent some time for his offences.

Mr Gualterieri was driving with drugs in his system but the court noted he was not impaired.

Mark Anthony Gualtieri appeared in Moss Vale Local Court, supported by family. Picture: Joel Carrett

The court heard Gualtieri had since spent a considerable amount of time in a residential rehabilitation facility and had overcome his cocaine addiction. His lawyer said Gualtieri was focused on making positive changes in his life.

“This is a man who’s making his best efforts to get his life back on track.”

Magistrate Mark Douglass agreed there was room for leniency for a “tireless worker” making concerted efforts at rehabilitation.

“You’ve dropped your socks down,” he told Gualtieri.

“You’ve got people to help you pull them up.”

Magistrate Douglass sentenced Gualtieri to a 7-month intensive corrections order with supervision, fined him $1200 and disqualified him from driving for six months.