Southeast drug dealer moll Zoe Patterson sentenced for Hotel Chadstone meth trafficking
A young drug dealer has admitted her role in a large-scale meth racket that operated out of a room at the plush Hotel Chadstone.
Inner East
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A young drug dealer exposed for her role in a major meth racket which went down at a swank Melbourne hotel has avoided further jail time.
Zoe Patterson, 21, was sentenced in the County Court on Wednesday to time served – 193 days – after pleading guilty to trafficking meth.
Patterson and her senior partner-in-crime Ben Watson were pinched at the plush Hotel Chadstone MGallery by Sofitel with more than half a kilo of meth on February 19 last year.
Watson was also linked to scales, mobile phones and $33,710 cash seized from the room.
Patterson and Watson, a convicted drug dealer, had set up shop inside room 920 at the upmarket hotel linked to the Chadstone shopping centre.
Investigators latched on to the racket after eagled-eyed hotel staff spotted “suspicious” behaviour on February 18.
The employees saw two people walk around the hotel carpark and point at the ceiling.
Staff examined CCTV and determined the two people in the vision had come from room 920 but were not the same people who booked the room.
Their suspicions were handballed to a senior hotel manager who reported the matter to police.
CCTV played to the court shows Watson and Patterson attempting to conceal their booty bag of meth before entering an elevator.
Police searched the room after finding Watson “semi-naked and agitated” and Patterson in bed.
Hotel housekeepers discovered receipts for ice pipes and mobile phones after police had concluded their search.
The court heard the room had a “bad smell” and had been “trashed”.
Watson was hauled in for questioning but gave a “no comment” interview to police.
The prosecution conceded Patterson didn’t know the precise amount of meth present, or precise quantities trafficked by Watson.
The court was told Patterson has been undertaking extensive drug rehab since her arrest.
Patterson, from Pakenham, is currently unemployed.
Judge Pardeep Tiwana also sentenced Patterson to a two-year community correction order.
Watson was sentenced in February to a maximum nine years and six months’ jail term with a non-parole period of six years and nine months.
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