Matthew Fazzari: Pleads guilty to drugs and weapons following arrest at KFC

A late night craving for KFC landed a former Channel 7 employee in a world of trouble after police busted him with drugs and a knife. It’s been a rapid spiral downwards for this Caroline Springs man.

Matthew Fazzari picture Facebook reporter verified

A man out for a late night feed at KFC in Melbourne’s west has copped a three-month jail sentence for his trouble.

Police spotted Matthew Fazzari, 27, of Caroline Springs, at the popular fast food outlet in Burnside about 1.30am on July 25 — before Melbourne’s strict stage 4 curfew was in force — but acting on a hunch tried to stop him for a chat.

Fazzari fled, discarding a bumbag in his haste to get away.

Police arrested him nearby and searched the bag, which was found to contain the drug 1,4-Butanediol, $365 cash, bank cards, a knife and GHB.

Werribee Magistrates’ Court heard on Monday the former Channel 7 employee was also busted a month earlier on June 20 with nunchucks, a laser pointer and GHB at shops in Deer Park, and with 1,4-Butanediol in St Albans on February 4.

He pleaded guilty to drug and weapons possession charges as well as for breaching his bail.

Fazzari’s lawyer Rory Hudson told the court his client had lead a relatively blame free life until 2017 when he began hanging out with the wrong crowd.

Things escalated quickly and it wasn’t long before he served his first four-month stint behind bars for drug offences, Mr Hudson told the court.

“Clearly his last term of imprisonment didn’t sufficiently rehabilitate him. My submission is that a combination sentence (with a community corrections order) is entirely in range and that the time he has served is entirely sufficient.

“Repeat terms of imprisonment won’t serve to rehabilitate Mr Fazzari, but a community corrections order is designed to serve that purpose.”

But Magistrate Michael Smith said he was worried a community corrections order, which often includes drug counselling and screening, would be “setting (Mr Fazzari) up to fail”.

It also risked Fazzari being slapped with a harsher sentence if he came back before the court for breaching the order, Mr Smith said.

“If he’s a young man who’s capable of addressing his own problems, which I think he is, he should be able to go out and do it.”

Mr Smith sentenced Mr Fazzari to three months’ jail and declared 38 days presentence detention as time served.

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