Guilty plea could see Gold Coaster Ken Lacey join sons Dion and Jade behind bars
FORMER Gold Coast milk baron Ken Lacey 61, could be set to join his notorious sons behind bars after pleading guilty to supplying cocaine.
Crime and Court
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FORMER milk baron Ken Lacey could be set to join his notorious sons behind bars after pleading guilty to supplying cocaine.
The heavily tattooed Gold Coast identity, 61, and girlfriend Arianne Stringer, 37, were to have faced trial yesterday on a string of drug charges after being arrested in April 2015 during a Crime and Corruption Commission investigation into cocaine distribution in southeast Queensland.
But Lacey pleaded guilty in Southport District Court after evidence from a key witness, and prosecutors agreed to drop a cocaine supply charge against Stringer.
He had been charged with eight offences but three charges were dropped and he pleaded guilty to five counts including supplying 12 grams of pure cocaine and possessing methamphetamine.
Stringer, who had been charged with nine offences, pleaded guilty two counts of possessing dangerous drugs and possessing scales and straws.
Judge David Kent QC discharged jurors yesterday afternoon, telling them that a “compromise” had been reached and the accused were pleading guilty to some of the charges.
He later told the court he was taking a “risk” extending Lacey’s bail but noted the businessman had no criminal history. He ordered Lacey to report daily to Surfers Paradise police.
Lacey and Stringer will be sentenced either this week or in February.
They made no comment as they left the Southport courthouse with their lawyers.
Lacey’s sons, Jade and Dionne, are serving lengthy jail sentences over the 2007 killing of Gold Coast man Kevin Palmer and other offences including torture and drug trafficking.
Lacey made millions of dollars buying up milk runs in Melbourne but lost his fortune on huge legal fees defending his sons and ill-fated Gold Coast business ventures including a brothel.
In December 2010: Ken Lacey was found unconscious in the driver’s seat of his black Mercedes in Labrador. He claimed his drink was spiked.
Nine months later, he opened a brothel in northern NSW, telling the Gold Coast Bulletin he was determined to make the club “classy’’ and profitable.
In February 2012, he was disqualified from driving for one month after being caught behind the wheel of his Mercedes.
A month later, he and his wife declared bankruptcy in the wake of crippling legal costs for their jailed sons.
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