Cassandra Lee French sentenced for Lotus Glen prison drug smuggling

A Queensland mother of six has been sentenced after a court heard she played a “key role” in a sophisticated prison drug smuggling operation.

Cassandra Lee French was sentenced in the District Court at Gladstone on February 1.

A Gladstone single mother of six has been sentenced for her “key role” involvement in a sophisticated drug smuggling operation at a Far North Queensland prison.

Cassandra Lee French, 39, was sentenced in the District Court at Gladstone after pleading guilty to trafficking dangerous drugs.

The court heard that French and others were part of an operation to smuggle drugs into the Lotus Glen Correctional Centre.

The jail is located 25km south of Mareeba and accommodates high and low security prisoners.

The Crown said that French had played a “key role” in the smuggling operation.

The court was told the drug trafficking happened between April and December 2021, and French operated under direction from one of the main organisers of the trafficking scheme.

The man giving French directions often used another prisoner’s telephone account to communicate with her in a bid to avoid police detection.

French was responsible for receiving parcels of drugs and distributing them to associates, whose role was to smuggle them into the prison.

Cassandra Lee French.

The man giving direction to French operated his own customer base inside the jail which gave him “considerable power and influence”, the court heard.

It was told French received seven parcels of drugs in the mail - five of those were sent to others for distribution into the prison.

Two of the parcels contained about 100 Suboxone strips - each parcel had an estimated worth of $25,000 to $35,000 if sold to prisoners.

Neither of those two parcels successfully entered the correctional centre - one was intercepted and the other was found at an associate’s house on a search warrant.

The court was told that French also played an active role in the transfer of payments within the consortium.

French’s bank account was also used to receive deposits.

The court heard that French received a total of $31,299 in her bank account from the illegal scheme.

It was told that French made “some money out of it, but certainly not much”.

The court heard that French was on probation for a common assault offence when she committed the trafficking, and her one-page criminal history included drug offending.

It heard that French had ties to Rockhampton.

Defence barrister Scott Moon said French had taken full responsibility for her “very poor decision making”.

Mr Moon said before she knew it, her offending had “steamrolled”.

The court heard that French had undergone drug rehabilitation.

Judge Craig Chowdhury sentenced her to three years’ jail with immediate parole.

Originally published as Cassandra Lee French sentenced for Lotus Glen prison drug smuggling