The Melbourne drug dealer dads who paid the price for drug offences in 2020
If any of these Melbourne drug dealing fathers own a “world’s greatest dad” T-shirt they should burn it immediately.
South East
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From the dad who dealt drugs to cope with the pressure of having three children to three women in quick succession to the dad who kept a shotgun and knives in the family car, here are the biggest drug dealer dads to go down in 2020.
CLUTZ CLANDESTINE LAB DAD
Glenroy father of three Christopher Maney converted a buried shipping container into a clandestine drug lab at a rural property but wasn’t as good at cooking the ice.
Instructions on how to cook ice, phones and computers were seized when police arrested him at home in September 2017.
They had already seized 31g of ice, a semiautomatic handgun, glassware, apparatuses, chemicals and a pill press from the shipping container.
The County Court heard had built a “sophisticated and premeditated” clandestine lab but his efforts to manufacture meth were “amateurish”.
It was heard the drug addict had experienced emotional stress after fathering three children with three different women in “rapid succession”.
Maney was jailed for 16 months in April.
ALADDIN’S CAVE DRUG DAD
Botanic Ridge dad Timour Madkour was nabbed with an Aladdin’s Cave of meth, GHB, steroids and weapons at his family home, where his partner and children lived.
Police raided his home on March 19, 2019, grabbing him as he tried to do a runner out the back.
They seized a stack of drugs including 360g of meth, 1.8kg of GHB and bottles of anabolic steroids and human growth hormones.
Police also found a homemade 9mm handgun, four samurai swords, a knuckleduster, an extendible baton, a silencer, ammunition, young cannabis plants and more than $37,000 cash.
Madkour’s lawyer told the County Court he was selling drugs to get money to help his family move.
Madkour was jailed for a minimum of five years before the County Court in October.
DEADBEAT DAD DONE BY DETECTIVE DOG
Desperado dad Wayne Staff was busted trafficking a hefty amount of ice after he led police on a terrifying chase through Dandenong.
He caught the attention of police when he ran a red light in front of officers on December 4, 2019, causing them to take up chase.
Staff then drove through barriers and onto the opposite side of the Princes Hwy causing oncoming motorists to swerve out of the way
Police Airwing followed him to his Dandenong home before police stormed inside.
They found almost 200g of ice, $1600 cash, a tick book and credit cards and IDs in other names while searching for Staff.
He was then found in the roof cavity and came down after police told him they would stick their dog on him, saying, “I’m scared of dogs”.
Staff was jailed for a minimum of three years’ before the County Court in October.
POSTBOX DEALING DAD
Altona Meadows dad Simon Ratcliffe’s large interstate drug operation involving the Spirit of Tasmania was foiled when he put hefty amounts of ice in the mail in front of national police.
Ratcliffe was being monitored as part of a national investigation into cross-state drug trafficking when police watched him put almost 240g of ice in a Laverton post box on February 3, 2020.
The father-of-two had also used his brother’s internet account to have a Honda Accord sent from Devonport in Tasmania to Melbourne via the Spirit of Tasmania.
After Ratcliffe picked up the car on April 10, police raided his Altona Meadows home and found $125,150 hidden inside pillowcases in a panel of the Honda.
More than 30g of cocaine and 10.4g of ice was found inside his house.
Ratcliffe was then being escorted to a police station when he told an officer, “You do what you’ve got to do to get drugs, you know”.
Ratcliffe was sentenced to a minimum of five years’ jail before the County Court in December.
ARMED FAMILY MAN
Heidelberg West dad Shannon Tibos was caught not only dealing drugs out of his family car, but also using it to harbour weapons, including a shotgun and ammunition.
He was found with 17g of ice and scales in a cooler bag on the passenger seat when police found him behind a Heidelberg West gym about 12.35am on October 25, 2019, after they observed him drive there from BP Reservoir in convoy with another car.
A large knife was in the driver’s door and nine diazepam pills and an oxazepam pill were in Tibos’ pocket.
The father of four was then on bail when police pulled him over on April 17 and found a longarm shotgun and five rounds of ammunition underneath the spare tyre cover in the Holden Commodore.
There was another knife in the driver’s door, and five vials of steroids were found in a subsequent search of his home.
Tibos had multiple prior convictions for illegally having firearms.
He was sentenced to a minimum of six months’ jail before Heidelberg Magistrates’ Court in June.
CANNABIS GROWING DAD
Keilor Downs Khoa Le dad ran a “modern and sophisticated” cannabis growing operation under the cover of a legitimate hydroponic store.
Police seized 31 cannabis plants weighing 45kg, and loose cannabis weighing 2.2kg after raiding Le’s home on July 11, 2019.
Le’s decked out garage was fitted with ultraviolet heat lamps, insulation, ventilation, charcoal air filters and an electrical bypass.
Investigators seized Le’s phone which contained evidence the convicted drug dealer had planned to sell the cannabis.
Police then raided Le’s hydroponic shop and seized more than 2kg of cannabis, ammunition, four tasers, batons and a stolen Jeep Cherokee.
Le was jailed for a minimum of three years’ before the County Court in April.
DADS GETS HIMSELF INTO DOUBLE DOOZY
Westmeadows dad Omar Elsayegh was caught back in the game just eight days after he was arrested for drug dealing and granted bail with strict conditions.
Elsayegh was caught trafficking ice and GHB and carrying MDMA, $3205 and a weapon in Preston on July 22.
He was bailed on the condition he didn’t leave the house between 10pm and 6am, but was found out at night on July 30 dealing ice, and carrying GHB, cannabis, pregabalin and two weapons.
His lawyer told Melbourne Magistrates’ Court his life had spiralled out of control after his relationship ended and he stopped seeing his children as often.
Elsayegh was sentenced to 120 days’ jail and an 18-month corrections order with 100 hours community work before in November.
BREAKING BAD IMITATION METH DAD
A dad who plotted a Breaking Bad scheme to produce crystal meth with a legally imported chemical even roped his own son into the scheme.
Mastermind Dennis Vassallo, his son Danny Vassallo and others were nabbed after the Victoria Police Clandestine Laboratory Unit launched “Operation Hacksaw”.
Vassallo junior said pharmaceutical chemical “ISO” was a game-changer after he was told it could be converted into “the grouse” — a code for meth.
According to Victoria Police, criminals use ISO (N-isopropylbenzylamine) because its cheaper.
The gang — which got its mitts on 500lt of ISO — estimated the chemical could be worth up to $10,000 per kilo when converted to crystal.
Vassallo and co also considered selling their ISO to other criminals.
Police raided Victorian and South Australian properties linked to the gang in February 2018, before the ISO could be manufactured into meth.
The court heard ISO is considered a “visually similar imitation” to meth.
Judge Michael McInerney sentenced Vassallo last April after he and his son pleaded guilty to possess substance, material, document or equipment for trafficking drugs.
Vassallo was jailed for 18 months’ and his son was sentenced to time served — 20 days — and a three-year community correction order.
