Melbourne drug queen Karlie Cook jailed for MDMA, roid and ’fake’ Xanax dealing racket: Court

A Melbourne nursing student turned into a cokehead stripper whose online marketing fuelled her drug and steroid empire.

Melbourne glamour fitness freak Karlie Cook was jailed for trafficking drugs. Instagram.

A Melbourne stripper was exposed as a MDMA drug queen who sold roids and counterfeit Xanax which she marketed online with snazzy label designs and “great customer reviews”.

Karlie Cook, 41, was sentenced in the County Court on Wednesday to a minimum five years’ and two months’ jail after pleading guilty to trafficking a commercial quantity of drugs charges.

Cook was nabbed with an Aladdin’s cave cave of party drugs, testosterone and various chemicals and substances after authorities raided her Albanvale home in July 2022.

Police swarmed the home and seized various vials, chemicals, pills, an industrial pill press, bogus ID documents, cash, Viagra and a stack of other drugs.

Cook, who was smoking an ice-pipe when police raided her home, was also pinched with almost a kilo of MDMA and more than 10kg of testosterone and steroids.

Cops also seized assorted cash, fireworks, a taser, a baton, multiple mobile phones including a “drug phone”, multiple tick books and various “printed labels”.

Cook was also caught with 58,000 Phenazolam tablets weighing more than 20kg which the court heard was known as ‘fake Xanax’ and worth $320,000 on the street.

Cook sold fake Xanax online.

The court heard Cook, who also pleaded guilty to trafficking Phenazolam, used the labels on her bottled homemade drugs to “make them look genuine”.

Investigators called in the Victoria Police Clandestine Lab unit after a “drug preparation area” which included a “saucepan on a hotplate” was discovered in a bedroom.

Clan Lab cops advised police at the scene that Cook’s drug kitchen was a “steroid processing plant”.

Police arrested Cook, who also pleaded guilty to attempt to possess testosterone, and quizzed her about the bedroom clan lab.

“I don’t know,” Cook told police.

“I don’t go in those rooms … I’ve been told not to … I don’t ask questions.”

However, Cook refused to tell police who ordered her not to go into the rooms.

Investigators then hauled Cook away for further questioning.

Cook will spend Christmas behind bars.

Cook, a glamorous fitness fanatic, told cops she made money with “great difficulty” through odd bookkeeping “bits and pieces”.

Cook also claimed “most of her cash” came from “pokies winnings”, the court was told.

Cook told police “people come and go from her house all the time”.

“There’s always people there,” Cook said.

Cook was targeted by police after the Australian Border Force intercepted almost 3kg of testosterone which had been sent to the country via China between February 25 and March 9.

The three separate testosterone consignments were bound for Cook’s Albanvale home, another Albanvale property and a Sunshine property intercepted between February 25 and march 9.

Investigators analysed Cook’s phone and discovered conversations between her and others who lived at the Sunshine and Albanvale properties.

Cook was caught with a pill press.

The court heard the messages related to the “sale and purchase of drugs”.

“Hey do you need gear? Just cos I’m grabbing now and need to know how much everyone needs as I have to pay for it by 5pm,” Cook wrote.

An associate texted the drug queen “A gram please …” to which Cook responded “i have to restock soon … have u run out completely & do u have cash cos i might be able to sling some to tie u over til i restock”.

Another associate texted Cook: “How much for Xanax did U find out”.

“He said I’m not allowed to sell any at the moment … Oops … I’ll ask again when we get more bottles,” Cook responded.

Police also discovered an ad Cook posted online for her fake Xanax business which included prices and ”great reviews” from purported customers.

Cook also ordered substances to manufacture pills and did her bottled products up to look like legitimate Pfizer branded Xanax.

Cook studied nursing but became a stripper.

Cook also complained about a competitor using her “label design” to advertise drugs in a group called “Drugs of Melbourne”.

“Yep I’m crushed and it’s worst (the competitor) has started selling my label design we have already seen and ad in the drug group,” Cook said in a message seen by police.

Phillip Dunn KC, for Cook, told the court Cook was involved in “low-level ice dealing”.

The defence submitted Cook also worked as a “costume designer”.

The court heard Cook, who grew up and completed high school in Geelong, studied nursing at the University of Ballarat.

Cook later became a stripper who abused cocaine and meth but had recently worked in traffic management, the court was told.

Judge Diana Manova said Cook’s “sophisticated” drug dealing was “very serious”.

“You were actively and knowingly engaged in sourcing drugs (and other materials) to enable you to sell purportedly genuine pharmaceutical drugs and a complex variety of steroids and other drugs on the black market for profit,” Judge Manova said.

Cook was jailed for a maximum of nine years and four months.