Steven Lester Price busted for marked ‘drug box’ on his ute in Goulburn

Goulburn police were investigating a completely different matter when they stumbled across a box with an interesting label.

A Goulburn potato harvester was busted by police when they found a brazen container labelled ‘drug box’, which contained exactly what was advertised.

Steven Lester Price, 32, faced Goulburn Local Court on Wednesday after pleading guilty to possessing nearly 5 grams of cannabis.

The court heard the Goulburn resident was on parole when he was sideswiped by another car on April 5 and fled the scene. When police arrived at his house later that afternoon to see why he’d failed to stop, court documents reveal he arrived in his Holden ute towing a trailer.

Court documents reveal the police inspected the vehicle for damages while they spoke to Price about the collision and noticed he was “extremely nervous and was visibly shaking”.

Steven Lester Price was busted with a box of drugs marked “drug box”. Picture: Facebook

According to court documents, police became suspicious when they saw a magnetic box attached to the bonnet of the car with pink letters spelling “drug box”. The court heard Price told police the box contained “chainsaw parts”, despite its small size.

The court heard when police searched the box, they found the contents true to the name. According to court documents, police found a small resealable bag with nearly 5 grams of cannabis inside a small tin with a foreign label and a bottle cap full of an unknown brown substance.

Price denied the drugs were his and told police they belonged to a friend, court documents show. They state Price told police he would “take the rap” for his friend, who he refused to name.

He told police the bag contained weed but said he didn’t know what was in the bottle cap and police didn’t test the substance, according to court documents.

His lawyer told the court Price was on parole at the time of the offence but his last drug-related conviction was in 2013 for drug possession.

Magistrate Geraldine Beattie noted Price hadn’t learnt his lesson from the previous conviction.

“Cannabis is a prohibited drug,” she said.

“You served time on drug matters not so long ago.”

Steven Lester Price appeared at Goulburn Local Court on June 16. Picture: James Lane

Price’s lawyer told the court his client had a history of criminal behaviour but had been trying to distance himself from his past actions.

“He is a person who has lost his way at age 19,” he said.

“He’s not associated with those persons he was with at that time.”

The court heard Price is a potato harvester and woodcutter who “lives an isolated lifestyle” to try to keep away from temptation.

Magistrate Beattie convicted Price and fined him $600, but warned him the punishment would be far more severe if he came back before the courts.

“You commit further offences, it won’t be a fine,” she said.