Tumbi Umbi: Drug dealer Jarrod Leigh Ison shifts blame to ‘pen pal’ girlfriend

A street level drug dealer who pleaded guilty to more than 200 offences has told a court it was “common knowledge” he took the fall for his girlfriend who he met as a pen pal while in jail.

The footbridge over Tumbi Creek between Peach Ave and Tumbi Creek Rd. Jarrod Leigh Ison, 38, of Tumbi Umbi, would meet people here to sell drugs. Picture: NewsLocal

A street level drug dealer caught on telephone intercepts and police surveillance plying his nefarious trade in public areas popular with kids and families has blamed his girlfriend for his life “snowballing out of control”.

Jarrod Leigh Ison, 38, of Tumbi Umbi, faced Gosford District Court on Friday after pleading guilty to two counts of supplying drugs on an ongoing basis with a further 200 individual counts of supplying small quantities of meth, cannabis and alprazolam to be taken into account when he is sentenced.

Ison took the stand at his sentence hearing, telling the court he met his girlfriend of three years as a pen pal while he was in jail for a previous, unrelated offence.

He said “I should have lived by myself in Parramatta” on his release from jail but instead moved into his girlfriend’s rented accommodation on Florence Ave, Tumbi Umbi.

“When I met [her] I moved to the Central Coast and she was already dealing,” Ison told the court.

Ison was among eight people arrested and charged by police attached to Strike Force Treceagle over the supply of drugs. Some of the drugs and cash seized by officers. Picture: NSW Police

“People were coming to the house all hours of the day. I decided to meet them away from the house. I wanted to have a proper relationship with [her].”

An agreed set of facts states Tuggerah Lakes Police District’s Drug & Anti Theft Unit established Strike Force Treceagle in May 2022 to investigate the alleged supply of prohibited drugs.

The path to Tuggerah Lake off Adelaide St, Killarney Vale, where Jarrod Leigh Ison, 38, of Tumbi Umbi, would meet people to sell drugs. Picture: NewsLocal

Police soon identified Ison as a “street level dealer” of ice, cannabis, GHB and alprazolam — also known by the brand name Xanax — and started to monitor his mobile phone and conduct physical covert surveillance.

The facts state Ison regularly met customers, the names of dozens of which were contained in court documents, at prominent locations including outside a flower stall at the corner of Peach Ave and Wyong Rd, the footbridge between Peach Ave and Tumbi Creek Rd, the “Old Mingara”, Adelaide St Oval and the path to the Tuggerah Lake shared pedestrian and cycleway at the corner of The Peninsula and Adelaide St.

The court heard Ison’s girlfriend was also arrested and charged with supplying prohibited drugs and was later sentenced in the Local Court to two years jail.

But Ison said when he got out of jail he became addicted to meth and found himself under the control of his girlfriend and drugs.

“It’s common street knowledge that I put my hand up for it all,” he said of his arrest.

“She got [charged with] next to nothing.”

Judge Tanya Bright will give her remarks on sentence next Wednesday.