No jail for Sydney publican Robert James Moroney caught dealing cocaine
Eastern suburbs publican Robert James Moroney has been spared a jail term after being caught dealing cocaine by police running a six-month undercover operation.
Police & Courts
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A Sydney publican has narrowly avoided jail time after he was caught dealing cocaine in an undercover sting.
Captain Paddington owner Robert James Moroney, 49, was busted in Darlinghurst in November as part of a six-month operation by Kings Cross Police.
The covert taskforce uncovered the cocaine dealing network after stopping Moroney in his vehicle in the city six months ago.
Officers seized $1300 and 25g of cocaine after searching him and his hotel room, and alleged he was supplying the drug when they arrested him in his car on College St.
The items were allegedly found inside a coffee grinder belonging to Moroney.
The same operation also resulted in charges being laid against notorious Sydney private investigator Frank Monte.
He is facing multiple drug charges and is still before the courts.
Moroney first made headlines in 2020 when he changed the name of the much-loved pub from the Captain Cook to the Captain Paddington at the height of the Black Lives Matter movement.
At the time he told The Telegraph the move was just a rebrand to give the venue “a fresh face”.
On Friday, Moroney was handed a nine-month intensive corrections order and fined $900 after pleading guilty to supplying an indictable amount of cocaine.
He also pleaded guilty to dealing with the proceeds of crime and drug driving.
An intensive corrections order is the most severe form of punishment a court can hand down before it considers sending someone to prison.
The drug charge carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison.
Moroney was also banned from driving for six months by Magistrate Eve Wynhausen at the Downing Centre Local Court on Friday.
As part of Moroney’s sentence he has to report to a corrections officer in St Leonards for a nine month period.
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