Dr John Robert Ullman jailed for trafficking prescription drugs from Chermside clinic
A Queensland doctor who trafficked huge quantities of prescription drugs to a feared bikie gang out of his Brisbane clinic has been jailed.
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A once well-respected Queensland doctor who trafficked prescription drugs to one of Australia’ most feared bikie gangs out of his Brisbane clinic, sometimes in garbage bags, was ordering more valium-type drugs than hospitals, a court has heard.
Prosecutors said Dr John Robert Ullman used his otherwise legitimate Chermside medical practice as a front to traffic benzodiazepines and other schedule 2 prescription drugs predominantly to members of the Comancheros for two years and nine months beginning in 2018. His exploits led to a change in the law and he is now a case study taught to nurses about what not to do.
The “enormous fall from grace” from upstanding community member to bikie doctor was detailed at his sentencing in Brisbane’s Supreme Court on Friday.
Ullman, who remains a registered doctor but hasn’t practised since his arrest in 2020 and now works as labourer, first began providing dodgy scripts to his “patients” but after the quantities were questioned by pharmacies he started supplying the drugs directly and using an encrypted app to avoid police detection.
Bikies would be booked in as though for normal appointments but during consultations they would at times discuss the on-supply of the drugs he was providing and street pricing, the court heard.
The patients would leave with boxes and sometimes garbage bags full of up to 2500 valium pills, the court heard.
Ullman took cash or bank transfer and even employed a gym owner to help with dispensing the pills and collecting money from drug customers.
Crown prosecutor Sam Sherrie said Ullman sourced the drugs from three different pharma supply companies and accounted for more than a quarter of all benzo sales from one of those firms.
“He purchased greater quantities than pharmacies and hospitals,” Mr Sherrie said.
Ullman also supplied steroids on nine occasions, buying an ampoule for $28 and selling it for $60.
When his home was raided in September 2020 police found tick sheets, $338,000 in cash, and a large amount of luxury products.
During the offending period he obtained $1.5 million in unsourced income but not all could be attributed to the trafficking.
His offending came to light when police targeted the Comancheros and undercover cops were sent to the clinic where Ullman sold them drugs on two occasions, the court heard.
“This was a registered medical practitioner who used his position not just to gain access to sourcing wholesale amounts of drugs, but he really used his practice as a front for this business,” he said.
“There’s something to be said as well about a doctor who should have a greater appreciation for the harm caused by drugs who then supplies such an immense amount.”
But barrister Jeff Hunter, KC, rejected the suggestion his client’s clinic was a front for drug trafficking saying Ullman, who had no prior criminal history, was a respected and much sought after medical practitioner.
“He treated a vast number of highly respected people, living in the Brisbane community, including the legal community,” he said.
“These (drug) transactions represented a relatively small part of what was a very successful practice.”
Mr Hunter also drew a distinction between benzos – that have a therapeutic benefit – and drugs that often come before the court like meth that is associated with mental illness and violence.
He said benzos were the first line of treatment for people suffering meth addiction and his client believed that’s why the bikies were getting the drug from him.
Mr Hunter said his client didn’t understand what it meant to get involved with OMCG members.
“He did not appreciate that once you became entangled with people from that milieu it’s very difficult to disentangle yourself,” he said.
“On one occasion one of the patients, in inverted commas, actually placed a handgun down on the desk whilst they were having a discussion about that.”
The court heard he had lost his family as well as his comfortable lifestyle and had resorted to living with a friend.
Mr Hunter equated the 4.5 year wait from arrest to jail sentence as living an “isolated and depressed” existence under “punishing stress”.
Justice Rebecca Treston accepted Ullman was “in over his head” when dealing with the Comancheros and while not strictly under duress found it difficult to get out.
Despite providing them with large amounts of prescription drugs it was only after a year he realised the pills were being on sold.
“You knew then that the consequences of cutting off the supply to those people could lead to severe consequences for you and your family,” she said.
She said the high achieving private school boy was spoken about in glowing terms by character referees, including former patients, which also highlighted the “gross breach of trust” Ullman had perpetrated.
“You have indeed suffered an enormous fall from grace, and I take that into account,” she said
“Balanced against that, of course … you must have known when you set out on your course of criminal conduct, that this was one of the risks.”
She accepted his remorse – demonstrated through an early plea of guilty to trafficking and nine supplies – was genuine and the risk of reoffending was low.
Ullman was sentenced to 6.5 years jail with a parole eligibility date of July 5 2028.
Originally published as Dr John Robert Ullman jailed for trafficking prescription drugs from Chermside clinic
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