Corrupt drug counsellor Anthony Dieni jailed for 14 years
A corrupt rehab counsellor has been jailed for 14 years after lying to the courts and helping drug-addicted patients cheat urine tests while embroiling them in his drug trafficking ring.
Police & Courts
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A corrupt counsellor who helped rehabilitation patients cheat urine tests in exchange for peddling drugs for him has been jailed for more than a decade.
County Court judge Patricia Riddell said Anthony Dieni’s actions while working as a co-ordinator at the now defunct St Paul’s Prevention Rehabilitation in Melbourne’s north had undermined the judicial system.
“Instead of working with the system, you were a mole, undercutting it from within,” Judge Riddell said.
“You used your position to manipulate, mislead and undermine court processes and outcomes; and to receive illicit drugs from clients and their associates.
“It was a monumental betrayal of your role.”
She said Dieni, 72, who was awarded an OAM for his service in 1998, gave “empty promises” to the court that he would inform authorities of any breaches to secure bail for drug-addicted clients between December 2016 and September 2017.
But instead he encouraged them to flout conditions and exchange drugs for clean urine tests, telling one person he would “pull a f---ing shifty” to ensure they avoided detection.
On another occasion he told a female drug user released on bail how to provide a false sample to the court using another woman’s urine he had sourced.
He told one man he would back him up “100 per cent” and that “the magistrate will believe whatever I tell him”.
“Your offending is an egregious breach of trust of your position and responsibility,” Judge Riddell said.
“You created an atmosphere where they were beholden to you, inducing them to traffic drugs to you, which you in turn trafficked to your grandson and his associates.”
Dieni, who had worked at the Strathmore clinic for almost 40 years, pleaded guilty to six counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice, as well as drug trafficking, false accounting and guns offences.
The false accounting charge related to using almost $450,000 of St Paul’s funds for his own benefit, including a holiday for his wife.
Dieni was jailed for more than 14 years, but will be eligible for parole after serving nine years.
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