Illawarra ice merchant Mathew Golding pleads guilty to large commercial supply
A Mount Saint Thomas crank salesman will learn his fate later this year after pleading guilty to supplying more than $400,000 of the illegal substance.
Illawarra Star
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An Illawarra ice merchant will appear in Wollongong District Court later this month after pleading guilty to selling nearly a kilogram of meth.
Mathew Lawrence Maurice Roy Golding faced Wollongong Local Court on Wednesday where he pleaded guilty to supplying a large commercial quantity of a prohibited drug.
The 46-year-old also pleaded guilty to participating in a criminal group to contribute to criminal activity.
Documents tendered in court stated Golding’s criminality was uncovered by Strike Force Howley which was set up in January, 2022, to investigate meth supply across the Illawarra and south coast.
Golding was spied on via physical and covert surveillance, and investigators nabbed him wheeling and dealing product on 11 occasions in March and April, 2022.
The drugs sales would range between 38 and 112g with a total supply of 824g with a street value of more than $400,000.
Police tracked Golding interacting with his associates, who he would met in carparks and homes in Liverpool, Edmondson Park, Mt Pritchard and the Sydney CBD, to procure and sell the drugs.
On April 14, 2022, police stopped Golding leaving a location in West Wollongong in a white Toyota HiLux about 10.30pm.
Officers located a plastic bag with a crystal-like substance on the floor which he denied knowledge or ownership of.
The substance was tested at Wollongong Police Station with it confirmed to be 11.17g of meth.
Six days later, police stopped Golding on Mt Ousley Rd at 6.30am en route to meeting an associate in Sydney.
Police located a small black box, resealable bags and 86g of meth.
Golding was arrested and a search of his Mount Saint Thomas home later that day uncovered a further 7.32g of meth, 5.27g of cannabis, 19 100mg tramadol tablets, two clonazepam tablets and 13 diazepam tablets – the latter two he did not have a prescription for.
Golding’s bail was continued with his sentence date to be determined on April 28.
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