Yen Le: Gambling addict deals $90k worth of drugs as he drowns in debt to ‘threatening’ people

A gambling addict, who owed $80,000 to a threatening loan shark, has been jailed for his role in a drug network which spanned NSW and the ACT.

A severe gambling addict owed significant sums to threatening people when he chose to deal $90,000 worth of drugs across NSW and the ACT, a court has heard.

Yen Le’s troubled past was aired in Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court before he was jailed for supplying ice, heroin and MDMA.

Reading from the agreed facts, Judge Michael McHugh said the 28-year-old was caught dealing 305g of ice, much of which was found during a search warrant at his Sydney Olympic Park home on November 24 last year.

The drugs were found in his bedside table and kitchen drawer, where scales and mobile phones were also seized.

Le was also caught dealing 5g of heroin and 84.41g of MDMA, Judge McHugh said.

Le acted as a middle man between smaller and larger suppliers, the court heard.

“The geographic spread of the ‘set up’ in both NSW and the ACT reveals the offender’s substantial involvement in an interstate supply network,” Judge McHugh said.

“I find the offender’s role in the supply was the point of contact for the sale of drugs; the person who made the sale of the drugs, who physically obtained the drugs, who delivered the drugs and exchanged the drugs for money, part of which was negotiated by the offender.”

A crippling gambling addiction was the catalyst for the drug dealing, the court was told.

Judge McHugh said Le was a conduit between smaller suppliers and larger suppliers, acting as more than a courier but far from a principal dealer who would be shielded from the day-to-day business of drug supply.

He said it wasn’t “particularly sophisticated offending,” with Le making little effort to avoid scrutiny, sending messages without encryption and doing deals in public.

The court heard of Le’s descent into substance abuse, which started when he was a child.

After suffering serious childhood trauma, Le began drinking three bottles of spirits a week at 12-years-old. From the age of 16, he was taking six or seven ecstasy pills a week, which evolved into heavy cocaine and crystal meth use in his early 20s.

Le was sentenced in Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court

He held various warehouse assistant roles but was repeatedly fired due to his drug use and formed a gambling addiction from the age of 21.

After losing his last job, a 25-year-old Le fell further off the rails.

He’d spend thousands of dollars a night on pokies and escalated his drug use, Judge McHugh said.

“In the period leading up to the offending, he accumulated a debt of $80,000 owed to a ‘loan shark’ and he was threatened with harm if he did not repay the loan,” he said.

Reading from a psychologist report, Judge McHugh said Le had not processed his childhood trauma, which sent him on a trajectory of alcohol and substance abuse as well as problem gambling and anti-social connections.

Le was sentenced to an aggregate prison term of six years and six months with a non-parole period of four years for one count of supplying a commercial quantity of a prohibited drug and two counts of supplying a more than indictable and less than commercial quantity.

Two more charges of indictable drug supply were taken into account.

Le received a 25 per cent discount for his early guilty pleas.

He will be eligible for parole on November 23, 2025.