Jake Quilla jailed for smuggling contraband drugs into Goulburn jail

A man who snuck into Goulburn jail’s yard has himself landed behind bars after a dog walker almost thwarted his attempt to smuggle Bupe, Xanax and tobacco into the centre stuffed in a tennis ball.

A Sydney man has ironically been jailed for sneaking into a prison yard to throw parcels of drugs to inmates after he drove down from the city during the lockdown.

Jake Quilla, 28, appeared via video link in Goulburn Local Court on Wednesday to plead guilty to three charges of supplying a prohibited drug, custody of a knife, not complying with a public health order, and unlawfully delivering goods to an inmate.

The court heard the Waterloo resident drove down from Sydney on the morning of August 7, despite the public health notice ordering Sydney residents to stay at home to prevent the spread of Covid.

At 10.45am, police facts show Quilla parked his black Jeep near the cemetery at the rear of Goulbutn Correctional Centre, jumped the wire fence to get into the yard of the prison, and threw three packages over the brick wall into the facility.

Jake Quilla appeared at Goulburn Court House on September 15. Picture: Craig Dunlop

Meanwhile, court documents show a resident happened to be walking by with her dog and waved her arms at the prison guards to notify them about the break in. The court heard officers raised the alarm, but not before Quilla scaled the fence and sped off in the Jeep.

The court heard the correctional officers checked the yard and found two packages, both heavily wrapped in duct tape.

When they opened the first package, officers found a tennis ball stuffed with a pouch of tobacco, a lighter, 6.76 grams of cannabis, 10 packages of Buprenorphine wafers (which weighed a total of 11.02 grams), 5 orange Mylan tablets, and 1.31 grams of meth.

The second duct-taped package contained 10.81 grams of cannabis in bags, two wafers of Buprenorphine, Xanax tablets, four pouches of tobacco, three packets of rolling papers, a note which read: “for kickback my niggs”.

Despite nearly being caught the first time, the court heard Quilla returned to the prison at 1pm to scale the wire fence again. He was spotted by correctional officers throwing items over the brick wall before he hopped back over the fence and made a run for it through a nearby paddock, according to the facts.

Jake Quilla snuck into Goulburn Correctional Centre’s yard to smuggle drugs in. Picture: Craig Dunlop

Police found Quilla near a river and searched him, finding a knife down the front of his pants. The court heard police then searched the Jeep and found several tennis balls, a roll of duct tape, scissors, tobacco and a notebook with a page torn out.

The court heard Quilla was on parole “for the commission of serious offences” at the time of the offence and he has a lengthy criminal history which includes convictions for robbery, assault, and dishonesty offences.

Magistrate Geraldine Beattie said the offences were “very very serious” and criticised Quilla for endangering the community.

“You’ve come from Sydney where there is a lockdown area to try to contain the virus and you’ve travelled into a rural area to potentially carry this disease,” she said.

The court heard the illegal contraband was dangerous for the negative effect it could have on the inmates within the prison, who would use the drugs to curry favour with others or “hold over each other.”

“There’s a really strong need to stop people from committing that offence,” Magistrate Beattie said.

After trying to smuggle items into prison, Quilla was sentenced to 30 months in jail with a 20-month non-parole period.