Sydney professionals who led double lives as drug dealers
From models, surfers and makeup artists to white collar workers, these are the Sydney professionals who have been exposed for turning to the city’s underground drug trade. Find out what happened when their double lives were uncovered.
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From sales managers to models, surfers to makeup artists, these are some of the Sydney professionals who have found themselves before the courts after straying onto the wrong side of the law.
Here's what happened when their double lives were exposed.
RACHEL CHAMI
A glamorous Sydney flight attendant found herself before the courts after police discovered cocaine with an estimated street value of $5000 in her car.
Rachel Chami was arrested in Double Bay after police found 18.5 grams of cocaine underneath carpet in the driver’s footwell.
She had been employed as a flight attendant for Emirates when she was caught dealing cocaine in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.
Investigators swooped on the young model, then aged 26, during a major police drug blitz in November 2018.
She pleaded guilty to supplying a prohibited drug and dealing with the proceeds of crime.
During her sentencing last July, Chami avoided jail and was given a 10-month intensive corrections order — a custodial sentence served in the community — which expired in May.
VERA ZINGER
A glamorous Instagram model was spared imprisonment after she was caught dealing cocaine in a police crackdown last November.
Officers found four bags containing 2 grams of drugs and $2150 cash after pulling Vera Zinger over in Barangaroo.
The 23-year-old from Rosebery was sentenced in March to an intensive corrections order after pleading guilty to four charges, including two counts of supply prohibited drug and one each of possess prohibited drug and deal with the proceeds of crime.
She was also fined $3950 and ordered to undergo psychological treatment and counselling.
Zinger, who is also a gym instructor and casino cocktail waitress, had amassed an Instagram following of more than 80,000 admirers with posts from all over the world, including Italy, the Greek islands, Croatia, Spain and Dubai.
LUKE TAYLOR
Luke Taylor, a young bodybuilder from Harrington Park, was busted moments after a drug deal in Sydney’s CBD last year.
Taylor, 29, sparked a police pursuit, taking off through the city’s streets after a plain clothes officer knocked on his driver’s side window following the transaction last November.
When police caught up with him on York St, they found cocaine and $1200 in cash inside his vehicle.
A Sydney court heard Taylor, who was self-employed as a road linemarker, began working as a dial-a-dealer due to a lull in his line of work and he felt pressured to look after his ill brother.
He was granted bail earlier this year after news of his brother’s death in February.
Taylor pleaded guilty to drug supply, police pursuit and dealing with the proceeds of crime.
He was given a 15-month community corrections order for drug supply, and a seven-month intensive corrections order for the police pursuit.
He was also disqualified from driving for two years after successfully appealing a three-year ban.
DANIEL JAMES WINDSOR
A tradie from Zetland was forced to face the music after police found bags of cocaine hidden inside a screwdriver.
Daniel James Windsor pleaded guilty to supply prohibited drug (cocaine), possess prohibited drug (Endone), and deal with proceeds of crime.
A Sydney court heard the 31-year-old electrician had turned to selling cocaine to support his own cocaine addiction.
In April, police pulled him over in Randwick and during a search of his car uncovered a green screwdriver with a detachable bottom containing nine bags of cocaine.
Windsor had also earlier admitted to possessing one bag of the drug, which police seized.
Officers also found a mobile phone which constantly received messages related to drug supply, Endone painkiller tablets and $100 cash suspected of being proceeds of crime.
Windsor was fined $1500 and sentenced to a two-year community correction order with supervision.
SCOTT PFEIFFER
A Cronulla businessman landed himself in court after he was caught selling bags of cocaine to his friends to support his own drug habit.
Scott Pfeiffer was earlier this year sentenced to an 18-month community corrections order and ordered to undertake community service.
A Sydney court heard the freight sales manager, then aged 49, had admitted to dealing cocaine to his friends after police found 1.57 grams of the drug in his unit.
He was charged with supply prohibited drug and possessing stolen goods after police raided his apartment last October.
In a letter to the court, Pfeiffer said he felt “utmost shame, regret and embarrassment” for his behaviour.
KURT HOWLETT
An automotive interior designer who was caught dealing cocaine in Sydney’s south had gotten himself into a “terrible cycle”, a Sydney court was told in July.
Kurt Howlett, 30, served as a drug runner for his co-accused Bryce Ellis — who in July pleaded guilty to two counts of supply prohibited drugs on an ongoing basis — to support his own drug habit.
The court heard Howlett, from Woronora Heights, dealt cocaine eight times in three months in Caringbah and Woolooware.
He was sentenced to a 14-month intensive corrections order and 100 hours of community service after pleading guilty to supply prohibited drug.
Magistrate Kate Thompson said he had taken steps “to quit an entrenched drug habit”, which showed “great strength”.
BRYCE ELLIS
A surfer from Sydney’s south, Bryce Ellis admitted to supplying cocaine from his Caringbah home between December 2018 up until his arrest last July.
The 28-year-old had initially denied police allegations but in July pleaded guilty to two counts of supply prohibited drugs on an ongoing basis.
Twenty-seven other drug supply offences and one count of recklessly directing a criminal group were withdrawn.
Ellis was arrested after police allegedly found 16 grams of cocaine, replica firearms, drug paraphernalia and $2300 cash at his home as part of a seven-month investigation into cocaine supply across Sydney.
His matter is listed for sentencing in the NSW District Court in December.
SAMUEL SHENSTONE
A British expat who worked as a sales consultant is set to be sentenced after pleading guilty to supplying a large commercial quantity of MDMA to police informants.
Samuel Shenstone was arrested last December after police began watching the then 25-year-old and his associates over a period of more than three months.
According to the police facts, Shenstone supplied a total of 787.78 grams of MDMA and 75.73 grams of Ketamine, raking in $52,000 between September and December.
Officers arrested him in the foyer of his Waterloo home as he walked out holding a Coles bag containing MDMA and ketamine for a drug deal.
He is due to be sentenced in the NSW District Court at a later date.
BENJAMIN ZAUBZER
Benjamin Gordon Zaubzer, of Seven Hills, was sentenced to a jail term after dealing 33 kilograms of the drug GBL — otherwise known as liquid fantasy — to undercover police between September 2018 and March 2019.
A Sydney court heard the former model and makeup artist also supplied MDMA in smaller quantities, dealing the drugs from his mother's home.
He pleaded guilty to seven charges, including commercial drug supply.
Zaubzer’s defence told the court he began working at the street level after suffering a brain injury in a car accident in 2017.
The court also heard he had a clean criminal record.
Zaubzer was sentenced to a maximum of nine years in jail, with a non-parole period of five years and four months. He has filed a notice of intention to appeal the sentence.