Charles Gardiner and Travis Thickens front court for blackmailing crypto trader
A self-styled “gym rat” known to get his pump on at one of Melbourne’s biggest gyms — while dabbling in OnlyFans — has been busted in a bungled $20,000 extortion racket.
A self-styled “gym rat” fitness influencer who also dabbled in OnlyFans modelling tried to extort $20,000 from crypto trader while threatening to burn his face off as he drove him around Melbourne for two hours.
Charles “Cheekie Charlie” Gardiner and his sidekick Travis Thickens fronted the County Court on Wednesday for their roles in the bungled extortion attempt in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs in July last year.
Gardiner, self-styled Bayswater “gym rat” was jailed for 12 months to be followed by a community corrections order for 15 months.
Thickens copped seven months’ jail and a 12-month community corrections order.
The court heard Gardiner and the crypto trader communicated for about a month in 2022 about the fitness influencer investing in cryptocurrency.
In March 2024, Gardiner sent an email and accused the victim of stealing $20,000 via cryptocurrency trading.
Judge Greg Lyon said the email contained a veiled threat that Gardiner had contacted men who “could find him”, he knew where the victim’s his mother lived and that he would contact her.
On July 11, Thickens lured the crypto trader out of his home before Gardiner got out of a car and again accused him of stealing his money and demanded between $14,000 and $19,000.
Both men took the victim to an ATM where he withdrew $1000 and handed it to Gardiner who demanded that the victim make an online loan application and pay him $19,000.
The crypto trader’s application for a $14,000 loan was pre-approved but Gardiner insisted he wanted $19,000 which was rejected online.
Gardiner then drove the crypto trader away and threatened to shoot him or burn his face off with a blowtorch while they were in the car.
Police intercepted the car at Keysborough and an imitation pistol was recovered from Gardiner. “Although your offending was not accompanied by violence and although the weapons in your possession, Mr Gardiner, was not actually brandished, the threats were intended to create a genuine fear and anxiety to the victim with the ultimate intention that he’d hand over to you a considerable amount of money,” Judge Lyon said.
Although Gardiner was the ringleader, Judge Lyon said Thickens must bear considerable culpability for his role which was to create a “numbers advantage” during the offending which lasted about two-and-a-half hours.
He said Thickens had just been released from a seven-day prison sentence when he joined up with Gardiner in his demand for ransom.
Gardiner has a large presence on social media where he posts fitness content filmed in Powerhouse Gym in Bayswater. The self-styled “gym rat” spruiks himself as the “CEO and owner” of Elevate Today Club, an online shopping website that sells various gym paraphernalia and exercise “gadgets”.
