Sharria Thompson admits to role in Wellington drug syndicate

Secret police recordings helped bust a mother of three, whose parents died in suspicious circumstances after she was arrested for her role in a notorious drug syndicate in western NSW.

A Wellington woman has admitted she worked as a drug dealer for a major syndicate which arranged for large amounts of ice to be collected from Sydney and sold across western NSW.

Sharria Termecia Thompson was one of dozens of people arrested as part of an undercover 14-month police investigation known as Strike Force Pinaccle, which was set up to smash the syndicate.

Wellington woman Sharria Termecia Thompson has pleaded guilty to ice supply and criminal group participation charges. Picture: Facebook/Sharria Thompson

According to a statements of agreed facts tendered in court, the 24-year-old mother-of-three was a member of the syndicate between December 2019 and May 2020.

Thompson performed multiple roles to assist other members of the syndicate conduct their operation, including taking phone calls from an upline supplier of drugs in Sydney and letting the person into a home shared by other members of the syndicate.

Secret police phone recordings monitored Thompson selling ice to her brother Bradley and multiple other customers.

Court documents state Thompson also supplied instructions to Robert Redding about the location of drugs in her bedroom.

One occasion Thompson asked a man to supply a “big one” to an unknown person for “4” which meant an ounce or 28 grams of ice for $4000.

During the course of the police investigation, Thompson was unemployed and living on Centrelink, however she would often visit two licensed premises in Wellington to gamble.

Police said the amounts of money Thompson put through poker machines was “inconsistent with legitimate income earnt from welfare payments”.

When police raided the Thornton Street home Thompson sold drugs out of, they found numerous mobile phones, vacuum sealed bags and $5100 in cash.

Another person arrested by Strike Force Pinnacle police in May 2020. Picture: NSW Police

She was arrested in May 2020 with other alleged members of the syndicate including her parents Lyn Helen Thompson and Alan Leslie Fletcher, who later died on November 8.

Police said Mrs Thompson, 59, was found inside a car that had been set on fire and Mr Fletcher, 59, was found unresponsive nearby in the backyard of their home on Curtis Street in Wellington.

He died a short time later in Dubbo Base Hospital, while Mrs Thompson was flown to a Sydney hospital where she later died.

Shortly before her mother’s death, Thompson was released from custody and granted bail to be by her mother’s side.

Dubbo courthouse. Picture: Ryan Young

In Dubbo Local Court on August 26, Thompson entered pleas of guilty to charges of supplying 79.85 grams of ice, participating in a criminal group and organising a drug premises.

She remains out on bail and is due to be sentenced in November.

The deaths of Mrs Thompson and Mr Fletcher remain part of an ongoing police investigation on behalf of the Coroner. There has been no suggestion any other person was responsible for their deaths.

Bradley Thompson has pleaded guilty to participating in a criminal group, possessing a shortened firearm and supplying a prohibited drug. He was remanded in custody after his arrest last year and the case remains before the courts.

Robert Redding pleaded guilty to supplying a prohibited drug and participating in a criminal group. He was remanded in custody after his arrest in May 2020 and has been convicted and sentenced to 18 months in jail. Redding became eligible for parole on June 23 this year.