Taylor Stewart: Tradie had $6k of cash, 2kg of drugs in Bendigo

Police found a tradie passed out behind the wheel of a car in Bendigo with more than 2kg of drugs in his boot.

A Moonee Ponds tradie had more than 2kg of liquid fantasy in the boot of his car when police found him passed out behind the wheel last year.

Boilermaker Taylor Stewart, 28, appeared briefly in the Melbourne County Court from Port Phillip Prison on Wednesday, where he pleaded guilty to drug trafficking, cannabis possession and dealing with the proceeds of crime.

Stewart was unmasked as a drug dealer when he was spotted driving through a red light at Long Gully in Bendigo last November.

Police later found him passed out behind the wheel, and searched his car after suspecting he might have drugs in it.

When asked to show his drivers licence, police spotted more nearly $6500 in Stewart’s wallet, which they suspected to be the proceeds of a small-time drug dealing operation.

Taylor Stewart will be sentenced next week.

The court heard Stewart sent a text message to a mate as police were searching the car, saying: “We are sitting on the side of the road. Everything is in the boot. They will find the juice.”

The car, which Stewart had borrowed from a mate, was strewn with glass pipes, small bundles of cash, digital scales, and a Kmart coffee grinder suspected of being used to crush and mix drugs.

Stewart’s lawyer, Robert Timms, said his client planned to move to Darwin for a high paying job working on underwater pipelines in the oil and gas industry when he was released from jail.

He said Stewart’s relationship with his former partner was on “shaky ground” because he had barely seen her since being locked up nearly a year ago.

Mr Timms said drug use was “out of control in some sectors of the community” but said his client’s offending was relatively minor.

Judge Kate Hawkins will sentence Stewart next week.