Johnny Depp, Suzi Taylor: Celebrities who hit trouble on the Gold Coast
Celebrities are usually known for their glamour and wealth but it wasn’t all plain sailing for these fallen stars, who all ended up in hot water. READ THEIR WILD TALES
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CELEBRITIES are usually known for their glamour and wealth but these fallen stars prove not even the rich and famous can escape the law.
The Bulletin looks at the stars who have been busted on the Gold Coast and the price they paid.
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REBECCA KLODINSKY
AFL wag and swimwear designer Rebecca Klodinsky was in February ordered to pay $860 for stealing an iPhone from a car wash six years ago.
Klodinsky, the former girlfriend of convicted killer Dione Lacey and partner now of Geelong Cats player Lachie Henderson, pleaded guilty on February 22 to stealing in the Southport Magistrates Court.
She was arrested on a warrant relating to a charge from 2015. The court was told Klodinsky stole a mobile phone from a car wash manager after claiming staff scratched her black Porsche coup while cleaning it.
Klodinsky was sentenced to a $500 good behaviour bond for six months and ordered to pay $860 restitution. No conviction was recorded.
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JAMES YOXON
Gold Coast rapper James Yoxon, who goes by the name Freewyo, faced court in August 2020 where he was fined $30,000 for a raft of charges.
He pleaded guilty to 17 charges in relation to illegally dumping waste at various locations in 2018; and one charge for carrying out environmental relevant activities without environmental authority between August 22, 2018 and November 14, 2018 at Ipswich.
He released his EP titled Way Too F***ing Dope in 2016.
TOMAS NOVAK
Gold Coast actor Thomas Novak was sentenced to five years prison, to be suspended after he has served six months for his role in a giant $3.7 million boiler room scheme.
The cold call scheme sold a fake computer program and a fake betting program between February 2010 and 2014.
Mr Novak was sentenced in August 2020.
His only big time work includes a minor role in 1997 Kevin Costner action film the Postman.
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MATT SAUNOA
Former New Zealand Idol winner Matthew Saunoa pleaded guilty to possessing dangerous drugs, possessing tainted property, possessing drug related utensils and failing to properly dispose of a syringe in 2019.
He was sentenced in the Southport Magistrates Court to 18 months probation.
The singer shot to fame in 2006 when he won the third series of New Zealand Idol.
His winner’s single Hold Out topped the New Zealand singles chart.
ANTHONY WATTS
The NRL bad boy, who played for Cronulla Sharks, North Queensland Cowboys and the Sydney City Roosters before turning his back on his profession, was a regular before the courts post his career.
In 2013 Watts played for the Tugun Seahawks in the Gold Coast – Tweed Rugby League and was given an eight-week ban for biting an opponent’s penis during a match.
Off field, he had ties with the notorious Finks and Mongols bikie gangs and faced multiple charges, spending eight months behind bars while waiting to be trialled for an assault on an elderly man in northern NSW in November 2016.
Watts was sentenced to 12 months jail for the incident, which he served in the community on an intensive corrections order.
He was also sentenced to three months in prison, to be suspended for two years, and ordered to pay $5000 in compensation to a man he assaulted at a wedding in August 2016.
Watts last appeared before the courts in January 2019 when an allegation of threatening a man was withdrawn when the complainant failed to front up.
Watts is now based in Murwillumbah, NSW, with a fiance and daughter Luka, 2, and spoke to The Bulletin early last year about his efforts to kick start a boxing career while working for a Gold Coast concreting firm.
JOHNNY DEPP
Hollywood superstar Johnny Depp and his ex-wife Amber Heard fronted the Southport Magistrates Court in 2016 charged with illegally importing their Yorkshire terriers Pistol and Boo into the country.
Heard was charged with two counts of illegal importation and one of producing a false document — her incoming passenger card — after allegedly smuggling the dogs into the country on a private jet in 2015 while her ex-husband was filming Pirates Pirates of the Caribbean 5.
Heard and Johnny Depp starred in a video apology over the war on terriers scandal, urging people to respect Australia’s biosecurity laws.
Heard was sentenced to a one month good behaviour bond of $1000 with no conviction recorded.
DAVE TAYLOR
The former Queensland State of Origin star was initially charged with supplying cocaine alongside former Titans Joe Vickery and Jamie Dowling in 2014 in the drugs scandal that rocked the NRL.
Taylor’s charges were later downgraded and he pleaded guilty to two charges of possessing cocaine during his time at the Titans in late 2014.
He was fined $1000. No conviction was recorded.
The Bulletin in 2016 reported Taylor’s decision to use cocaine cost him his marriage, home and hundreds of thousands of dollars in salary.
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