Victorian drug dealers: Ben Watson, Zoe Patterson, Craig Wells, Stefan Belan
A bikie who sold coke to a cop and a businessman who turned his family home into a drug den are among the foot soldiers of Victoria’s narcotics empires.
Melbourne City
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A star-crossed pair who pinched with more than half a kilo of meth, a grandad who started growing dope to earn some extra coin and a businessman who turned his family home into a drug den — these are some of the most shocking drug dealers who have been through the courts.
BEN WATSON, ZOE PATTERSON
Dad-to-be Ben Watson, 31, and girlfriend Zoe Patterson, 21, were nabbed with more than half a kilo of meth and cash at a swank Melbourne hotel in February last year.
The couple had set up shop inside room 920 at the up-market hotel linked to Chadstone shopping centre.
Investigators latched onto their racket after eagled-eyed hotel staff spotted “suspicious” behaviour on February 18.
CCTV played to the court shows Watson and Patterson attempting to conceal their booty bag of meth before entering an elevator.
Police stormed the room and seized 517g of meth, scales, mobile phones and $33,710 cash.
Watson, who was semi-naked and agitated, was hauled in for questioning but gave a “no comment” interview to police.
Hotel housekeepers discovered receipts for ice pipes and mobile phones after police had concluded their search.
Watson was jailed for a maximum nine years and six months in February and Patterson was sentenced to a two-year community correction order in September.
CRAIG WELLS
Bendigo businessman and father Craig Wells, 50, turned his family’s second home into a seedy drug den in 2019 to save his family from being murdered over his crippling drug and gambling debts.
Police became suspicious of the then 48-year-old Bendigo businessman in late May 2019 after an unusually high electricity reading at the family’s property at Kangaroo Flat.
When police raided the property in an early morning search on Thursday July 4 they found a pants-less Wells surrounded by his illegal horticultural project.
Officers unearthed a massive cannabis haul, with four rooms housing 88 plants with various grow lamps, fans and drainage systems set up.
As he was being arrested Wells asked officers he could “put on a pair of trousers”.
Officers searched the pants before he could get dressed and found another wad of $1000 in cash.
Police then turned on the family home, where they found a locked briefcase with $5000 bundled in $50 notes, two firearms and ammunition.
A total of $7005 in cash was seized as it was suspected to be the proceeds of crime.
A Powercor electricity company investigator looked over the property and discovered an illegal metre bypass circuit, which had sucked up an estimated $18,166.87 worth of power in three months.
The 50-year-old father told police he started growing the plants to “stay alive and pay debts”.
Wells said he would “end up dead” if he revealed players in the Bendigo region drug network.
“I’ve got no money. I have no way out,” Wells told police.
“I don’t want it to blow back on my family.
“Someone is going to hurt me or my family.”
On April 28, 2021 Wells was convicted by a jury for cultivating the drugs.
Wells was sentenced to four years and five months in prison by the Melbourne County Court in August.
AK MOSLEHI ROUDI
Musclebound Melbourne model Ak Moslehi Roudi, 33, peddled cocaine to undercover cops at various Melbourne locations, including a deal which went down at a notorious bikie-linked tattoo shop in 2019.
Moslehi Roudi slung cocaine, MDMA and meth to undercover police after covert cops launched a sting on the personal trainer in January 2019.
Moslehi Roudi, who the court heard worked as a VIP manager at strip club Dreams Gentleman’s Club, kicked off his racket at South Melbourne tattoo shop City of Ink.
Moslehi Roudi took a $200 deposit for a 14-gram cocaine deal that was completed the next day at Travancore.
Moslehi Roudi sold the undercover cop another 14 grams of cocaine for $4000 in a deal at West Melbourne.
The model, formerly known as Armin Moslehi Roudi, suggested the cop buy ounces of cocaine.
The competition bodybuilder’s drug trafficking modus operandi continued for several weeks until he was introduced to a second covert cop.
Moslehi Roudi sold the new cop meth and cocaine and gave the operative ecstasy, the court heard.
Moslehi Roudi, from West Melbourne, trafficked seven ounces of cocaine in exchange for $58,000 via various deals between January and August 2019.
Police raided Moslehi Roudi’s home and seized cocaine, meth, MDMA, cash, scales, a drug scoop, weapons, police-marked tasers and mobile phones.
STEFAN BELAN
A drug-addicted gambler who calls himself the ‘Mad Russian’ sold cocaine and ecstasy to pay back debts to “unsociable” underworld figures, a court has heard.
Stefan Belan, 41, appeared at the online Frankston Magistrates’ Court on June 4 from a hospital where his first child had just been born.
The cocaine-abusing concreter was being sentenced after a police raid at his Frankston East home uncovered a four-month dealing operation.
The court heard officers went to his house on April 26, 2019 and asked Belan if he had any drugs.
He said he did, and took them to his bedroom where they found a safe with 63 ecstasy pills, deal bags, prescription medication and 14g of cannabis.
On his phone was a raft of messages discussing ecstasy and cocaine sales, with prices and amounts, as well as images of wads of cash and samples of the drugs he had available.
He told police he was a “middleman” who “connected people” with substances.
Belan was placed on a 20-month community corrections order in June, with 200 hours of unpaid work, gambling and drug counselling conditions.
He was also fined $250 for cannabis possession.
ALFRED DODKINS
A Rye grandfather nabbed with a swag of mature marijuana plants in his backyard also admitted dealing the drug to make a bit of extra coin.
Alfred Dodkins was caught with herbs of varying sizes in his house and garden after a drug raid by cops earlier this year.
The 72-year-old retiree openly admitted having the dope set-up, and revealed text messages on his phone showing he was selling it to friends for spare change.
He pleaded guilty to drug trafficking and cultivation charges at Frankston Magistrates’ Court in August.
The court heard on March 16 police raided Dodkins’ Rye home after a tip-off cannabis was being grown there.
They found 23 small plants in the bedrooms, along with several containers full of seeds.
In the rear yard they dug up 14 mature plants and hidden in the spare wheel well of his car they uncovered a 25g bag of cannabis.
When Dodkins was arrested he was open and frank with drug squad detectives, telling them about the dealing messages on his phone and the reasons why he cultivated cannabis.
He said he had been growing for the past year and “I enjoy it, it gives me something to do”.
He said he had been selling small amounts to “friends and associates”, but “I don’t make much money from it”.
He said he “didn’t realise how serious it was” and due to debts from his collapsed business he was still paying off he was only “scraping by” financially.
Dodkins was convicted and fined $3500.
LAUSEI ASIATA
Shepparton drug dealer and Mongols outlaw motorcycle gang associate Lausei Asiata sold more than $50,000 worth of cocaine and a gun to an undercover cop in June.
Asiata and two co-offenders travelled to Seymour train station on June 21 this year where they sold 83.8g worth of cocaine to an undercover officer for $21,900 after they struck a deal on social media.
One of the co-accused told the officer he had a sawn off double barrel shotgun for sale at $1000 but could not sell it at the moment.
The officer contacted Asiata’s co-offender once the group had left the original meeting and offered him $5000 before the group returned to complete the deal.
On July 4, the officer contacted Asiata’s co-offender where they agreed to sell him 112.1g of cocaine worth $29,200.
The drugs were handed over at Seymour train station shortly after.
Police executed a search warrant at Asiata’s Shepparton property on July 27 where a bag containing .22 rounds were found underneath the mattress in his bedroom.
Shotgun rounds were also seized by police before he was arrested later that day.
Prosecutors told the court authorities executed a search warrant at the caravan park where Asiata lived when they found a M52 grenade inside a sports bag.
A substantial amount of drugs, including 162g of methamphetamine, 478g of cannabis and 504g of Xanax tablets, were also found in his bedroom.
The bomb squad was called in after the park was evacuated with officials determining the weapon to be safe.
Asiata was arrested and taken to Shepparton police station, where he made full admissions to the offending.
Just three days earlier, Asiata was involved in an assault at a Shepparton taxi rank.
The two victims in the incident were sitting with friends when they were approached by a group of five men including Asiata.
One of the victims was punched before his mate intervened who was punched in the head and torso by Asiata and two co-offenders.
He was then slammed into a parked car.
As the males fled, one of the victims followed them before Asiata launched another attack punching him in the jaw.
Asiata was sentenced to five months behind bars with 66 days already served, fined $500 and ordered to pay $5000 in compensation in September.
JESSICA DODENCIU
Award-winning former star property manager Jessica Dodenciu avoided jail for dealing drugs last December.
Dodenciu, 29, was sentenced in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court after pleading guilty to 40 charges including drug trafficking.
Dodenciu was busted in South Yarra in a car with a swag of drugs, including valium, GHB and cocaine, on October 11 2018.
Police also seized amphetamine, ketamine, cannabis and various other prescription drugs from Dodenciu’s mobile illicit pharmacy.
Dodenciu was arrested, charged and bailed but was soon back on the police radar.
This time Dodenciu was intercepted in Caulfield less than three weeks later with more cocaine and speed.
Dodenciu was also caught with a master lock safe key, an RACV membership and a driver’s licence, all of which were suspected to have been stolen.
Dodenciu was bailed again.
Her time on the straight and narrow ended in St Kilda West in May 2020 when she was caught with meth and a weapon.
Dodenciu was pinched again at St Kilda in June 2020.
She refused to allow police to search her but officers found her with a stack of stolen mail, tools, a weapon and more meth.
Dodenciu was also caught with several stolen bank cards, prescriptions and Medicare cards.
Dodenciu was crowned the number two property manager in the state while working for Harcourts in 2014.
Magistrate John Bentley spared Dodenciu a conviction but handed her the order with strict conditions including regular drug testing.
TODD LEWIS
Kilcunda drug dealer Todd Lewis, 43, was sentenced at Latrobe Valley Magistrates’ Court in September after pleading guilty to multiple charges, including possessing and trafficking drugs and negligently dealing with proceeds of crime.
The court heard police searched Lewis’ property in Kilcunda in September and found $100 and a mobile phone with multiple messages referring to trafficking methamphetamine.
Police also found a plastic bag containing six magic mushroom pills and three zip lock bags containing 26g of methamphetamine, 1g of methamphetamine and magic mushroom powder.
All drugs were found in a hollow WD40 can.
Another 14g of methamphetamine, $490 in cash and a firework were uncovered on the property on May 6.
Lewis’ lawyer Pavithra Jayasekera said the man had only turned to drugs because his rendering business was crippled by the pandemic.
“Things have gone wrong in his life which led to him to trafficking to support his newly established drug addiction,” she said.
“The effects of Covid led to his work decreasing and him having to abandon running that business altogether.
“He first started using the ice as a way of processing things … it escalated into a much more serious situation.”
Ms Jayasekera said the man’s addiction was also fuelled by “bad influences”.
During his plea, Lewis said despite having Covid symptoms, he wasn’t tested before he was “chucked in a cell”.
“I feel like I’ve been given no rights,” he said.
Magistrate Jacinta Studham slammed the police prosecutor, saying testing should have been arranged.
Lewis subsequently tested negative for Covid.
Lewis was sentenced to two months in prison with a community corrections order for a period of 12 months.
GLEN WALLIS
Bendigo drug dealer Glen Wallis went on a “one man crime wave” and then used Covid symptoms as an excuse to avoid police questioning.
Wallis, 43 of Long Gully, stole cars, broke into his mate’s home, tried to run down cops and defrauded a charity in a crime spree that started in 2019.
When police tried to interview him, the drug dealer said he was sick and couldn’t be.
Following his arrest in 2019 Wallis said he had heart troubles and was taken to hospital, but he checked himself out before police could talk to him.
On two other occasions Wallis told police he had flu-like symptoms and medical advice was given not to interview him because of the Covid risk.
Wallis admitted to dealing in excess of 40g of methyl amphetamine and 50ml of GHB in the 90 days, from May 1 to August 7, 2020.
The drug dealer’s network of more than 30 clients was revealed after police tracked the phone of his then girlfriend.
The unemployed man had received 162 payments totalling $36,482, with payment descriptions including “Hello Kitty toys”, “anal bleach” and “prostitute fund”.
Wallis was busted with drugs in March when he was pulled from a moving motorcycle after attempting to run down a police officer.
His backpack was stuffed with credit cards, a large quantity of deal bags, a set of electronic scales, three zip lock bags with 4.32g of methyl amphetamine, three blue ecstasy tablets with skulls printed on them, eight Zanax tablets and an ice pipe.
Soon after Wallis was placed in handcuffs he started to complain of chest pain and problems with his pacemaker.
He was taken to Bendigo Health, but before being admitted checked himself out.
Magistrate Angela Bolger described Wallis as a “one man crime wave” when he pleaded guilty to over 25 charges in August.
Wallis was given an 18 -month prison term, 169 days already served, with a 12-month non-parole period.
His licence was suspended for four years, and Wallis was fined $1000 for the counterfeit money and unroadworthy charges.
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