Glen Wallis: Bendigo drug dealer uses Covid to avoid police interview

A Bendigo drug dealer said he had Covid symptoms to avoid police questioning after his “one man crime wave” — stealing cars, breaking into homes and defrauding a charity.

A Bendigo drug dealer who went on a “one man crime wave” used Covid symptoms as an excuse to avoid police questioning.

Glen Wallis, 43 of Long Gully, was sentenced to 18 months in prison appeared in Bendigo Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday.

He stole cars, broke into his mate’s home, tried to run down cops and defrauded a charity in a crime spree that started in 2019.

When police tried to interview him, the drug dealer said he was sick and couldn’t be.

Following his arrest in 2019 Wallis said he had heart troubles and was taken to hospital, but he checked himself out before police could talk to him.

On two other occasions Wallis told police he had flu like symptoms and medical advice was given not to interview him because of the Covid risk.

Wallis admitted to dealing in excess of 40g of methyl amphetamine and 50ml of GHB in the 90 days, from May 1 to August 7, 2020.

The drug dealer’s network of more than 30 clients was revealed after police tracked the phone of his then girlfriend.

The unemployed man had received 162 payments totalling $36,482, with payment descriptions including “Hello Kitty toys”, “anal bleach” and “prostitute fund”.  

Wallis was busted with drugs in March when he was pulled from a moving motorcycle after attempting to run down a police officer.

He was driving a stolen black motorbike through Eaglehawk on March 29, 2020 when he locked eyes with a police patrol.

Police followed Wallis to the hill on McCormack’s Rd where he locked the rear wheel and overshot the Midson St intersection, sending him off the road.

Police pulled up next to him and yelled for him to get off the bike.

Wallis drove the motorcycle at constable Mark Reynolds, who was forced to jump out of the way.

As he did he grabbed Wallis’s backpack and dragged him off.

The backpack was stuffed with credit cards, a large quantity of deal bags, a set of electronic scales, three zip lock bags with 4.32g of methyl amphetamine, three blue ecstasy tablets with skulls printed on them, eight Zanax tablets and an ice pipe.

Soon after Wallis was placed in handcuffs he started to complain of chest pain and problems with his pacemaker.

He was taken to Bendigo Health, but before being admitted checked himself out.

Wallis also admitted to breaking into the homes of two women in 2020.

The day before Valentines Day, a Long Gully woman was warned by her neighbours there were two men, Wallis and a 25-year-old co-accused, in her home.

She went inside to find kitchen cupboards opened and items moved around and her bedroom “pulled apart”.

She ran out and called triple-0 after spotting the two men sitting and waiting in her lounge room.

Wallis also admitted to lurking around another woman’s home, calling and texting her hundreds of times over 22 days and threatening to end his life if they did not meet.

On July 20 Wallis broke into her home and refused to leave, and when she called for help he threw a lawnmower through a window.

Wallis also admitted to defrauding a charity, by using a counterfeit $100 note to buy $12 of items from the Kangaroo Flat St Vincent’s De Paul on February 1, 2021.

The unlicensed driver refused to take a drug test while at the wheel of a ute with a smashed windscreen and bald tyres at Golden Gully on 12 September 2019.

He also admitted to stealing a car rented from Bendigo Thrifty Car Rental in December 2019, which has never been recovered.

The court heard most of the offending occurred while Wallis was either on bail or a community corrections order.

Magistrate Angela Bolger described Wallis as a “one man crime wave” when he pleaded guilty to over 25 charges on Tuesday. 

She adjourned the court for half an hour so she could assess the range and severity of Wallis’s crimes, which included failure to take a roadside drug test, disqualified driving, driving an unroadworthy vehicle, dangerous driving, car theft, drug possession, using counterfeit money, obtain property by deception, burglary, drug trafficking and bail violations.  

“Where do you start?,” Ms Bolger said.

Wallis was given an 18 month prison term, 169 days already served, with a 12-month non-parole period.

His licence was suspended for four years, and Wallis was fined $1000 for the counterfeit money and unroadworthy charges.