Terry Romanos speeds through Darebin Creek Reserve, drug drives
When a young Thomastown man was found by police asleep in a car with three other men in Westfield Plenty Valley’s carpark after 4am, the curfew breach brought an end to a long list of drug-fuelled crimes dating back two-and-a-half years.
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A young drug dealer found with bags of salt in his pocket admitted he was selling the condiment as methamphetamine to someone who’d ripped him off, a court has heard.
Terry Romanos also led police on a wild car chase through a Reservoir park, and sped at 126km/h on EastLink in Wantirna while high on drugs and unlicensed on another occasion.
The 22-year-old fronted Heidelberg Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, September 8, facing charges from August back to February 2018.
He was found asleep in a car with three other men in the Westfield Plenty Valley carpark about 4.12am on August 4, breaching Melbourne’s lockdown curfew and a bail curfew.
Romanos had methamphetamine and deal bags in his wallet, and what police thought was two bags of methamphetamine in his pocket.
Leading Senior Constable Ken Marsh said when spot tests revealed the two bags didn’t contain illegal drugs Romanos admitted they were full of rock salt, which he was selling to an associate who’d ripped him off.
Romanos had already admitted to police he was dealing methamphetamine after he was found in a car with false number plates on May 2.
He had 3.8g of methamphetamine, cannabis, MDMA, 13 prescription pills, scales, deal bags, a notebook containing lists of names, weights and amounts and a licence in another name with him.
The court heard an unlicensed Romanos was chased by police cars and a helicopter as he sped through grassland and on footpaths in Darebin Creek Reserve after 2am on November 17.
The Thomastown man began speeding away from police after they saw him driving an unregistered car without number plates in Reservoir.
It was one of five times Romanos was caught driving without a valid licence after it was suspended for drug driving prior to February 2018.
Romanos was again caught drug driving — and still unlicensed — when he sped at 126km/h on EastLink Wantirna in November 2018, and when he was caught using his phone while driving in Forest Hill in March 2019.
Romanos also stole $3500 of car parts from a Holden ute that was left unattended after it broke down on Wandong Rd, Clonbinane, on May 11, even removing the car seats.
Weeks later he was also caught removing parts from a stolen car in an Epping carpark.
Lawyer Jacqui Hession said her client had suffered significant trauma from losing a friend in a car accident and from having his own serious car accident.
The court heard he had no prior criminal convictions and was suffering from drug addiction.
Romanos pleaded guilty to the charges before the court after Magistrate Ian Alger indicated he would sentence him to a community corrections order and the 40 days he’d already spent in prison.
He was handed a 12-month order, banned from associating with the other men involved in the crimes, and fined $1000.
His licence was disqualified for 15 months.
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