Melbourne crime couples: Brad Hynds and Ebony Bouchaud, Maria Romeo and Mitch Elliot and more

These Melbourne couples, featuring glam girls, their boyfriends and a pair of pedophile lovers were partners in crime until their lovey-dovey skulduggery was uncovered.

Melbourne’s partners in crime exposed.

Partners in life and partners in crime for these Melbourne couples whose criminal antics put them on a Bonnie and Clyde collision course with the law.

A glamour model and her boyfriend caught dealing drugs, a twisted music teacher and his depraved boyfriend and a pair of bandits headline’s Melbourne’s lovey-dovey criminal couples.

BONNIE AND CLYDE BOOZE BANDITS

Bottle shop bandits Ebony Bouchaud and Brad Hynds.

A pair of Bonnie and Clyde booze bandits nabbed high-end liquor including a $7000 bottle of Japanese whiskey during a month-long crime spree.

Brad Hynds and his girlfriend Ebony Bouchaud targeted eight Dan Murphy’s stores, and a Doncaster East bottle shop, between October and November 2018.

Hynds, a plasterer, and Bouchaud entered the stores, placed the bottles in bags, jumped the entry gates then fled.

The couple made off with 14 bottles during one heist.

Hynds would then “palm off” the liquor to third-party sellers for below cost price.

Hynds and Bouchaud scored big after they robbed Nick’s Wine Merchants at East Doncaster on November 21, 2018.

Hynds planned the robbery after he “sussed” out the Jackson Court institution on the internet.

The pair came prepared with a makeshift stepladder composed of two milk crates zip-tied together.

He threatened the attendant while Bouchaud used the milk crates to nab a $7000 bottle of 2009 Suntory Yamazaki Cask Single Malt Whiskey.

The lovebirds were arrested outside their South Melbourne apartment less than three hours later.

Hynds told police he sold the bottle – which was never recovered – to a South Melbourne market merchant known only as “John”.

Hynds was sentenced in the County Court in February 2020 to time served – 77 days – after pleading guilty to armed robbery and several theft charges.

Judge Patricia Riddell said Hynds and Bouchaud committed “planned and premeditated” offending.

“You (Hynds) admitted, as I’ve said, ‘sussing out’ those premises,” she said.

“You obviously both knew exactly what and where that bottle was located (at the East Doncaster heist),” Judge Riddell said.

Bouchaud was sentenced in the Magistrates’ Court in September 2019 to a 12-month community corrections order and ordered to repay $12,325.32.

SICKO SEX COUPLE

Ben Heels (left) and Tristan Cullinan-Smayle.

A pedophile music teacher and his sicko boyfriend committed vile child sex offending together.

Ben Heels was sentenced in the County Court in March to a minimum seven-year and three month jail term after pleading guilty to 28 charges including sexual assault and sexual activity in the presence of a child.

Heels, a former Fountain Gate Secondary College music teacher, sexually assaulted multiple children at Pakenham between January 1 and May 14 2021.

Heels and fiance Tristan Cullinan-Smayle hunted victims through the “theatre world”.

Heels’ victims were private students, while the depraved couple also ripped photos of the children from social media.

Heels also sent images of several students to Cullinan-Smayle.

The vile pair had “child abuse material” discussions about the images and “made specific references” to some students.

Heels also sexually assaulted two students – including an eight-year-old child – during separate and private singing and piano lessons.

Heels also performed lewd acts after sexually assaulting his victims and filmed his depraved acts.

The court heard Heels sent these vile videos to Cullinan-Smayle.

“The offending was particularly brazen,” the prosecution submitted.

Cullinan-Smayle, who also pleaded guilty to possessing and transmitting child abuse material, committed his “repeated” offending between December 2017 and May 2021.

The court heard some of the vile material depicted “high-level sexual violence” including children being raped.

Cullinan-Smayle’s defence lawyer submitted his client and Heels resided together in custody and had the “support of each other”.

A psychologist told the court Heels had a “pedophilic disorder” and viewed child abuse material to “please his fiance (Cullinan-Smayle)”.

Heels was jailed for a maximum 11 years while Cullinan-Smayle was jailed for a maximum 10 years with a minimum of six years and seven months.

The pair were both made registered sex offenders for life.

GLAMOUR EX SPILLS THE BEANS

Illi Glover

Glamorous Melbourne dog groomer Illi Glover spilt the beans on her accused drug dealer ex-boyfriend who she claimed lured her with expensive gifts and dinner dates.

Glover fronted Melbourne Magistrates’ Court in June last year to give evidence at her ex partner’s committal for serious trafficking charges.

The former boyfriend pleaded not guilty to trafficking cocaine, cannabis and ketamine and is scheduled to front a County Court trial later this year.

Glover, who told the court she works as a dog groomer, and her ex both fell into strife after police arrested the former lovebirds in Doncaster East on October 28, 2021.

The court heard Glover claimed he ex rang her and asked her to “get the money sitting on my side table” and “get the safe out of my wardrobe”.

It’s alleged the ex contacted Glover after he was intercepted in a red BMW in Pine Hill Drive and told her to “get the stuff out of the house” then leave.

The ex allegedly emphasised to Glover to remove the “bags from his office and the safe in the bedroom”.

Police spotted Glover loading her Kia Rio with two Coles bags and driving off before she was collared on Reynolds Rd with 885 grams of cannabis and $68,810.

Glover told police that her ex told her to take the bags from the house.

Glover, who pleaded guilty to cannabis possession and negligent deal with proceeds of crime, told her ex to tell police his location but he refused.

Glover, who was handed a 12-month good behaviour bond, told the court she “did not commit a crime”.

“I was acting upon instructions from my ex partner … which was a crime and I shouldn’t have partaken in it …,” Glover said.

“I was told to remove it from the house and I did.”

The defence put it to Glover how she came to accept responsibility for $68,810 when there was a total of $259,010 in the Kia

“I was completely unaware of the contents of that safe as it did not belong to me,” Glover said.

“And I could not get access to get inside to see what was in there … I found out from a news article that money had been discovered.”

Glover said she removed “what was believed to be cocaine” from the house but admitted she knew she was driving with cannabis.

“I believed it to be cannabis because it was green and chunks,” Glover said.

The defence put it to Glover she could have known another substance was “cocaine” because it was a “white powder”.

“It could’ve been other drugs … it was a drug,” Glover said.

Glover, who had a commercial meth trafficking charge withdrawn, said she suspected her ex dealt drugs to fund his own habit.

Glover, who claimed about $6000 was her savings, told the court her ex kept his “cash pile” on the bed side table with a “rubber band around it”.

LOVEY-DOVEY DRUG DUO

Maria Romeo

South Yarra glamour girl Maria Romeo and her boyfriend Mitch Elliot were done for a joint meth and GHB trafficking racket.

Romeo was sentenced in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court in January last year to an 18-month community correction order after pleading guilty to charges including trafficking meth.

Elliott joined her girlfriend in the sin bin after he was sentenced last May to a 24-month CCO after pleading guilty to trafficking meth.

Romeo and Elliott, who both pleaded guilty to trafficking 1,4 butanediol, were nabbed at their South Yarra studio apartment early on September 2, 2020.

Police stormed the apartment to find Romeo and Elliott in bed together.

Investigators also discovered a bevy of drugs, $4070 cash, a stack of counterfeit dough, fake IDs, bogus cheques, passports, an iPad, mobile phones, scales and empty deal bags.

Police seized a kilo of bute, meth, ketamine, MDMA and various steroids and prescription drugs including Xanax and Oxycodone.

Drug paraphernalia was also located “throughout” the apartment.

Investigators discovered messages and photos which indicated Elliott and Romeo were up to their necks trafficking drugs.

Romeo, who also pleaded guilty to dealing with the proceeds of crime, claimed, via social media, to be a former Melbourne showgirl.

Romeo was convicted and ordered to perform 150 hours of unpaid community work with discounts for rehabilitation and treatment.

Elliott was also ordered to perform 150 hours of community service.

BOGAN HOON ROPES IN GIRLFRIEND

Andrew Drew

Hoon ringleader Andrew Drew taunted cops and incited illegal street meets across Melbourne but he enlisted his girlfriend to help attempt to escape punishment.

Drew was sentenced in the County Court in October to a minimum nine-month jail term after pleading guilty to rolled-up incitement and reckless conduct charges.

Drew came under the watchful eye of anti-hoon cops after his distinctive Holden Commodore was spotted at several illegal street meets on November 15, 2021.

Drew performed burnouts and other dangerous moves at meets at Keysborough, Knoxfield and Dandenong South.

Drew hooned his car – which at times was draped with the Mexican flag – while hundreds of spectators watched and filmed his antics.

Some spectators also ran up to Drew’s car while he and another unknown hoon performed their illegal stunts in the smoke-filled streets.

Drew, who attached a Domino’s Pizza topper to his car, also had passengers who hung out of windows while they high-fived cheering spectators.

Dandenong High Risk Driving Crew members tracked down Drew and his distinctive Commodore – bearing plates ‘RN4MUK’ – in December.

Drew conspired with his then girlfriend Zara Lunney-Adams to have associate Caleb Cromarty nominate himself as the driver and throw police off the scent.

Drew said he needed someone to “take the fall” for his “skid bullshit”.

Lunney-Adams, who the prosecution termed “an active participant from start to finish”, transferred $1000 to patsy Cromarty.

Drew, who also pleaded guilty to attempt to pervert the course of justice and driving while disqualified, met with Cromarty to discuss the scheme.

But Cromarty crumbled hopelessly during his police interview and Drew, who was arrested in March, finally confessed to his crimes.

Drew also taunted police in various other messages

“No more mother’s meetings … block the roads if the cops come … there is more of us than them … f--- the cops … don’t run like a girl’s dick.”

Drew was jailed for a maximum 16 months and was ordered to forfeit his beloved hoon mobile.

Lunney-Adams and Cromarty – who both pleaded guilty to attempt to pervert the course of justice – were convicted and handed two-year community correction orders.

Zara Lunney-Adams

SCOUNDREL PARTNERS IN CRIME

Scoundrel Lockington couple Yvonne Scott and James Scott duped a Mornington Peninsula real estate agent and WorkSafe out of almost $900,000 while operating an animal supply business.

The Scotts were both handed jail terms in December 2021 after pleading guilty in the County Court to multiple rolled-up theft and obtaining a financial advantage by deception charges.

The crooked husband and wife team stole $872,000 from their victims between January 2015 and October 2018.

Mrs Scott used her position as RT Edgar Portsea office manager to swindle $771,307 via 129 bogus transactions into bank accounts controlled by her and her husband

Mrs Scott, who had worked for RT Edgar since 2002, earned $163,225 while she performed her duties remotely at the couple’s Strathallan Rd property.

RT Edgar Portsea director Colin Anderson was tipped off to the rort by a WorkCover investigator who discovered “suspicious transactions”.

Mr Anderson ordered an internal audit before Mrs Scott was referred to police.

Mrs Scott was on the WorkCover radar after she claimed $101,000 in dodgy WorkSafe claims while working for RT Edgar and the couple’s Lockington Hooves & Paws business.

The scoundrel claimed she couldn’t work after suffering “anxiety and depression” while working for an events company.

Mrs Scott submitted 32 certificates signed off by her GP – who was not aware his patient was working – to ruse Allianz and WorkSafe into transferring her the dough.

The court was told Mr Scott helped her wife with the WorkCover claims.

Ms Scott was jailed for a maximum three years with a minimum of 18 months while Mr Scott was jailed for two years and four months with a minimum of 14 months.

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