Mardi: World Gym franchise owner Luke Glassford faces sentence hearing for supplying 50kg of cannabis

A former World Gym franchise owner caught supplying more than 50kg of cannabis over the FBI-run encrypted app ANOM says it was only a one-off and hardly sophisticated, a court heard.

Luke Glassford, 42, has pleaded guilty to supplying a commercial quantity of cannabis and dealing with proceeds of crime in the form of almost $100,000 of cash. Picture: supplied

A Central Coast gym owner, who went by the username “Speakmind”, came across on the encrypted messaging app ANOM as every bit the drug hustling dealer as he directed his underling to buy and sell large amounts of cannabis.

But after pleading guilty to supplying more than 50kg of cannabis and dealing with almost $100,000 in illegally-obtained cash, Luke Glassford was quick to downplay his involvement in what police described as a large and sophisticated drug operation peddling cannabis from as far south as Victoria and as far north as Queensland.

Glassford faced a sentence hearing at Gosford District Court on Thursday after pleading guilty to three counts of supplying indictable quantities of cannabis, two counts of knowingly dealing with the proceeds of crime and supplying a commercial quantity of cannabis.

Arriving at court in a dark grey suit, the now 42-year-old cut a pale and pasty-faced figure with his rapidly receding hairline visibly thinner than when he was first arrested at his Jilliby acreage in December 2022.

His barrister told the court Glassford was mentally fragile and ought to return as soon as possible to a rehabilitation facility at Port Stephens, where he had spent six months in residential care.

The court heard Glassford was one of the owners of World Gym Mackay and had an interest in a couple of other franchises. (Picture: Facebook)

Glassford’s barrister said the time in rehab should count towards “quasi-custody” and that while he was picked up as part of the ANOM sting, his client’s involvement was only “some 11 days” when his messages were intercepted between late April and early May 2021.

He said Glassford’s use of the app was “hardly sophisticated” and the relatively short period of offending could be viewed as a singular “episode” rather than an ongoing pattern.

Glassford arriving at Gosford District Court on Thursday. Picture: NewsLocal

As a result, Glassford’s barrister said the judge could not speculate any further on what his client’s role was in the overall syndicate.

However, the Crown prosecutor told the court Glassford’s offending only came to light when he started using an ANOM-enabled mobile phone handset and it was “clear” from the messages “that this was an enterprise that was up and running”.

An agreed set of facts states Glassford was identified as part of a joint Australian Federal Police (AFP) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigation into the use of the encrypted ANOM network.

The facts state Glassford went by the username “Speakmind” while his underling Brendan Ross Carew, 40, went by the username “Wasteshoot”.

“The phones were used by them to conduct drug transactions,” the facts state.

Glassford was intercepted directing Carew, 40, to buy and sell large amounts of cannabis including 44.52kg of cannabis for $314,000 on May 4, 2021, and a further “20 pounds” on May 9, 2021 at Canley Vale.

The facts state Glassford directed Carew to collect payments for the drugs they sold and on two occasions received $44,000 and $48,550 cash that he knew to be the proceeds of crime.

Police raided Glassford’s rural Jilliby property on December 20, 2022, where they found 7.4kg of cannabis in various plastic and vacuum-sealed bags hidden around the property.

The court heard Carew pleaded guilty to supplying 1kg of cannabis and two counts of dealing with nearly $100,000 in proceeds of crime and was sentenced in Wyong Local Court in December to a 12-month intensive correction order with 100 hours of community service.

Judge Tanya Bright will sentence Glassford in September.