Thomas James Elmes sentenced for cocaine supply in lead up to Scone Cup
A married Hunter identity, earning $500,000 a year, boasted to a mate he had been up all night with two prostitutes “and it only cost me two grand in coke and $800 in room service”.
Newcastle
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Upper Hunter identity Thomas James Elmes bragged to fellow cocaine dealer Hamish Le Poer Trench and other “associates” that they were “at the height of our success” during a series of phone exchanges uncovered by police.
And included in those exchanges was the married Elmes’ gloat about a night he had spent with two prostitutes where it had “only cost me about two grand in coke and $800 in room service”.
But his boast of using cocaine to pay for sex, as well as using it as payment for business expenses, prompted magistrate Kevin Hockey to determine that Elmes had made some sort of commercial gain from the drug.
On Tuesday, Elmes was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment after pleading guilty to one count of taking part in the supply of cocaine (greater than an indictable quantity), but escaped full-time custody after Mr Hockey decided the 30-year-old could serve the term as an intensive correction order within the community.
He was also ordered to perform 150 hours of community service.
It came a week after Le Poer Trench also escaped a full-time jail sentence, with the same magistrate sentencing him to a 12-month intensive correction order and ordering him to perform 100 hours community service for three counts of supplying a prohibited drug and other offences.
The cocaine-fuelled lifestyles of the close mates from Scone were shattered after they became two of the targets for Strike Force Bunks, set up by Hunter Valley detectives to investigate drug supply throughout the town.
Elmes did not wish to comment as he left Muswellbrook Local Court, differing from his boasting to Le Poer Trench and others in the lead-up to their arrests.
The pair were taken into custody in the foyer of Crown Casino at Barangaroo on May 11 — just days before the biggest country race meeting in Australia was to kick off in their hometown.
Elmes was due to spend the Scone Cup in a marquee with friends, asking Le Poer Trench in the lead-up to the carnival: “Do I need to pick anything up tomorrow or have we got enough for the races?”.
Le Poer Trench replied: ”Oh, I’ll have enough for the races”.
But the pair still went to Sydney on May 10, where Elmes bought an ounce, or 28 grams, of cocaine for $12,500 after checking into the Crown Casino at Barangaroo.
They would be arrested the following morning in the hotel foyer where police discovered 21.7 grams of cocaine left.
On May 6 — five days before his arrest — Elmes was recorded in several phone calls by police.
“The accused disclosed and bragged that he had been awake until 7am having sex with two prostitutes which he paid for with cocaine in his hotel room,” agreed police facts tendered to court read.
“The accused stated: “it only cost me about two grand in coke and $800 in room service”.
Three days later, Elmes organised to buy “an ounce of the finest” cocaine from a dealer in Sydney before police intercepted another phone call at 1pm.
“During the calls, the accused said “I’ve got a brick”,” the police facts read.
“The associate asked how much and the accused said: “It’s three Oscars, 25 grand … 28 grams by three.
“The associate said ‘can you get me one to drive home with’.
“The accused agreed stating ‘yep, you can come with me to get it on Wednesday. We are at the height of our success’.
The police facts later read: “Police are also in possession of evidence where the accused has used cocaine as payment for sexual services and business expenses”.
Mr Hockey made mention of the sex worker exchange during sentencing, stating Elmes had used the drug “for sexual services and business expenses”.
It followed barrister Brendan Green, for Elmes, telling the magistrate his client had “significant financial resources” made through legal means and was not buying the cocaine to make a financial gain.
The police facts said Elmes earned about $500,000 a year from his business of buying and selling cattle and sheep.
Mr Green said Elmes instead bought it for himself and gave it to friends – which Mr Green admitted his client now knew was supplying the drug.
The charge which Elmes pleaded guilty to alleged he supplied cocaine between November 1, 2021 and the time of his arrest on May 11, 2022.
Mr Hockey said he took Elmes‘ early guilty plea and the fact he did not have a criminal record into account when deciding Elmes should not be sent to jail full-time.
Fellow cocaine dealer Le Poer Trench, a former Kings School student and bankrupt who the court heard was earning upwards of $250,000, escaped a full time jail term last week after his lawyers argued he had shown remorse and had no criminal record.
Instead, the 42-year-old Le Poer Trench was sentenced to 12 months’ jail to be served in the community as an intensive correction order.
He was also ordered to perform 100 hours community service after he pleaded guilty to four counts of possessing a prohibited drug and three charges of taking part in supplying a prohibited drug more than the indictable amount but less than a commercial quantity.
The court heard some embarrassing text message exchanges between Le Poer Trench and who the investigating police had described as “associates”.
It included one exchange where Le Poer Trench told one such “associate” via text message: “Mate. I have got The. Best. Bags. You’ve ever tasted … mate, I’m gonna shout you a f**king line of the stuff, you are gonna lose your shit … When I get there, you and I are gonna go straight to the toilets”.
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