Ryan Hodgson: Shepparton Outlaws bikie sentenced on drug, guns, harassment charges
A patched member of the Shepparton chapter of the Outlaws bikie gang has been sentenced over his involvement in a meth trafficking syndicate.
Goulburn Valley
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A patched member of the Shepparton chapter of the Outlaws bikie gang has been sentenced to a community corrections order over his involvement in a meth trafficking syndicate.
Ryan Hodgson, 34, faced the Shepparton Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, more than two years on from a months-long phone tapping operation by anti-gangs detectives.
The married father-of-three earlier pleaded guilty to his role in a meth trafficking syndicate, possessing illegal firearms and harassment via mobile carrier.
The court earlier heard he sent his wife of 13 years text messages that he would “kill you, you c*nt” and threatened to drag her out of her car and bash her.
Magistrate Frances Medina said it was a serious offence but took into account Hodgson’s limited criminal history and his co-offender’s sentences.
She said the men’s behaviour change program Hodgson had already started was “incredibly powerful”.
However, she warned if Hodgson does not “engage meaningfully with this order, [he’ll] expose himself to imprisonment”.
In an earlier hearing police prosecutor Samantha Owen told magistrate Frances Medina she should send Hodgson to jail to send a message to other would-be drug traffickers and bikie gang members.
The court heard Hodgson was the target of a late 2019 police operation targeting the drug trade in Shepparton.
Police uncovered him and his non-bikie syndicate members buying drugs from an unknown source in Melbourne and selling it on the streets of Shepparton.
The court heard Hodgson also tried to sell 20 MDMA tablets, but couldn’t get his hands on the drug, and planned to sell cannabis, but decided against doing so.
Police suspect he sold as much as 120g of methamphetamine during the three months they were listening to his phone calls, but the precise amount of the drug he sold is unknown.
Hodgson’s lawyer, Laurence Waugh, said his client was using meth when he began selling it and was “attracted by the easy money”.
Hodgson will need to complete 75 hours of community work and will be on a community corrections order for 18 months. He was fined $1000 for harassing his wife.
A conviction was not recorded.
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