Central Coast steroid bust: Nateesha Barlin, Dylan Shaw avoid jail
A TOPLESS waitress who once boasted she supplied steroids and human growth hormones to “the whole Central Coast” and her beefcake beau will almost certainly escape jail.
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- “I pretty much supply the whole Central Coast”: topless waitress
- Topless waitress Nateesha Barlin strikes a pose outside court
A TOPLESS waitress who once boasted she supplied steroids and human growth hormones to “the whole Central Coast” and her beefcake beau will almost certainly escape jail.
Dressed in a white blouse and cream jacket Nateesha Barlin and her musclebound boyfriend Dylan Shaw faced Gosford District Court this afternoon where Judge ordered they be assessed to see if they can serve a sentence by way of an intensive corrections order (ICO) for two years or less respectively for their part in a “criminal enterprise” to import and distribute steroids, testosterone and human growth hormones.
An ICO is seen as an alternative to full-time jail but served in society by way of community work, unannounced visits and random drug tests by Probation and Parole and other restrictions on their liberty.
Judge Michael Bozic told the court while he found “no sentence other than a custodial sentence is appropriate” he was satisfied they both showed regret, remorse and had strong prospects of rehabilitation.
He indicated he would sentence them to a period of two years or less but ordered they undergo an assessment by Probation and Parole to see if they could serve it by way of an ICO.
Judge Bozic said a letter Barlin wrote to the court and a psychological report tendered in her defence showed she had “mild body dysmorphia” and became “obsessed with her appearance” after a difficult childhood.
He said her offending was “motivated by the desire to compensate bullying and lingering negative imaging” she developed and suffered as a child.
Judge Bozic said the pair met at the same gym where Barlin developed an obsession and “sought the perfect body to compensate her low sense of esteem” which led to other “cosmetic interventions”.
“All she cared about was being in the cool crowd,” Judge Bozic said.
“The offences are explained in part by her desire to be liked ... she was begging for validation.”
In her letter Barlin said she just wanted to fit in and thought if she supplied the right people with steroids “I will finally be cool enough for these people to be my friends”.
Judge Bozic said Shaw began taking steroids to accelerate his muscle growth and before long he became addicted to using them daily.
He said Shaw had been abstinent from steroids for a year and his prospects of rehabilitation hinged on whether he could stay off them and avoid associating with the same people who he got involved in steroids with to begin with.
The couple’s court appearance followed a two-year sting by the Australian Border Force (ABF) which culminated on November 7, 2016 when customs investigators stormed the little granny flat they rented behind a property at Jilliby.
In the months leading up to the raid ABF officers had intercepted 13,672 tablets of an unknown substance, 11.2 litres of testosterone, 600ml of anabolic steroid, 195 vials of Somatropin, 120ml of Clenbuterol, 20 vials and 55 ampoules of human growth hormone and 102 capsules of Oxymetho-lone (Anesterone).
At the Jilliby granny flat ABF officers seized 3.732kg of steroids and human growth hormone including:
■ a bottle of yellow liquid containing 1.035kg of Methandienone;
■ a bottle of green liquid containing 837g of Oxandrolone; and
■ a bottle of yellow liquid containing 731g of Oxymetholone.
ABF investigators also seized a purple notebook containing a large number of entries listing various performance or image enhancing drugs (PIEDS), including anabolic steroidal agents, and dollar entries next to various names and whether they had paid or not.
During the raid Balin admitted to investigators she had received “seizure notices” from ABF after shipments had been intercepted in the past.
“I understood what he’s — what we have both done is wrong but I just hope that we can prove that we weren’t doing it out of — to make money,” she told them.
“We were just — and we weren’t, like, trying to import heaps.
“Like, it was just for him and his friends. Like, it was just, like, — but Dylan just got stuck with the one [import] that put it all in his name and — I understand it’s illegal and we both know that.”
When investigators arrived Shaw snapped his mobile phone but by then it was too late.
ABF officers had already downloaded it two months earlier when the couple returned from a holiday to Phuket and they were stopped at Customs for a baggage examination.
They took dozens of screenshots from the phone including one of Shaw listing a number of PIEDS for sale on the closed Facebook group titled ‘Swole Ninja Community’.
The pair were charged with several offences in the Local Court before Barlin eventually pleaded guilty to one count each of importing testosterone and the deemed supply of anabolic steroids.
Similarly Shaw, 24, ultimately pleaded guilty to three charges of importing human growth hormone, anabolic steroids and the deemed supply of steroids.
Barlin’s solicitor Michael Mantaj told a sentencing submission last month she had a difficult childhood after her parents’ separation and she was bullied having felt like the “ugly duckling”.
“What is particularly relevant in this particular offence is her perception of herself and the bullying she felt as a result of how she looked,” he said.
Mr Mantaj said she fell into the “gym culture” which “introduced her to steroids”.
“She was aware they were illegal, she was not aware of how serious the offences were (compared to other drugs such as heroin),” he said.
He argued there was no evidence to suggest the pair had made any money out of the venture or that it extended beyond supplying friends and associates within the gym scene.
However a forensic examination of Barlin’s mobile phone uncovered a number of text messages regarding the supply of PIEDS including one which read: “Still owing $350. Do you want anavar oral or anavar inject?”.
In another text to her former employer, who she worked for as a topless waitress, Barlin said while she also worked as a vet nurse she did not sell animal steroids.
“I sell human grade steroids. Just had an order of 6 litres come in today if you need anything let me know :) … Yep 6 litres ha I pretty much supply the whole Central Coast. I got 10 litres of clenbuterol too 100ml Liquid form”.
An agreed statement of facts tendered in court revealed how easy it was for the pair to order steroids, PIEDS and human growth hormones online from suppliers in China and the Philippines and have them shipped through the mail.
The pair had the goods sent to their granny flat and their parents’ addresses under relative’s names.
Shaw’s mother told ABF officers when they raided her Warnervale home that packages arrived regularly for him and he picked them up when she was at work.
In the declaration section the goods were listed as by the suppliers as “cleaner”, “labels”, a “gas flow valve and housing” or simply unreadable.
In one text message exchange Shaw told Barlin “when it all rolling smooth and we have our customers we will be getting 5k to 10k at a time it will all be worth it”.
To which Barking replied: “Just so annoying there’s so much money to be made and we have no bottles fmlllll”.
In the Crown’s written submissions, the prosecutor said the offenders were operating a wholesale business for profit where they would import a combination of wholesale premixed PIED substances, or raw ingredients “for the purposes of repackaging the substances into smaller, labelled bottles to on-sell to customers”.
“The current offending doesn’t involve a traditional hierarchal structure, as might be expected to be seen in typical drug importation matters,” the submissions read.
“Rather the co-offenders took advantage of the ready availability of PIED products in overseas markets, and with the autonomy that the internet affords, were able to establish an independent commercial operation.”
In court the prosecutor said unlike other drugs such as cocaine or ecstasy, where there was usually a “Mr Big” and a criminal structure that extended down, steroids were “readily available on international markets”.
“Maybe they were using performance enhancing drugs at the time but that was not the only or pure motivation,” she told the court.
“It’s motivated by financial gain primarily.”