Rehannan Gibson Poplawska in Bowen court for drug charges, fraud, theft

A woman has avoided jail after facing court charged with various drug, stealing, and fraud offences over a 10 month period.

Rehannan Gibson Poplawska faced Bowen Magistrates Court charged with drug possession, fraud, and theft on 6 March 2025.

A woman busted on multiple occasions with a “significant amount” of drugs was caught trying to use cancelled pokies payout tickets and stealing hundreds of dollars worth of groceries.

Rehannan Gibson Poplawska faced Bowen Magistrates Court on Thursday where it heard she racked up the charges over a 10 month period while battling a drug addiction.

She pleaded guilty to multiple counts of possessing dangerous drugs, possessing pipes, stealing, attempted fraud, and possessing tainted property.

The court heard the first set of charges related to an incident which occurred on 15 February, 2024 at Coles Townsville where she spent a significant amount of time shopping before going through the self-serve checkout with a full trolley.

She paid for $221.90 of product but failed to pay for the remaining $483.97 of shopping.

She was detained by police who conducted a search of her handbag where they located three zip seal bags containing methamphetamine and a pipe.

The total amount of drugs found in the three bags was 4.472g with a purity of around 75 per cent.

Solicitor Peta Blundell from PD Law represented Poplawska and told the court Poplawska had not taken her medication for a number of days before attending Coles and said the CCTV footage showed a person whose mind was not there.

The second set of charges related to an incident that occurred on 30 May where Poplawska attended the Bowen Hotel and presented two pokies payout tickets valued at $465.64 and $355.73 to staff.

When the tickets were checked staff realised they were cancelled tickets that had been stolen in 2023.

Ms Blundell said the offence was “opportunistic”.

The third set of charges relate to a search conducted on 26 November where a further four zip seal bags of drugs were located in her handbag including 2.42g cannabis and 1.37g of methamphetamines.

Ms Blundell said the 38-year-old had a prejudicial upbringing, being diagnosed with depression and anxiety as a teenager and witnessing her mother suffer with drug use.

She said at the time of the offences Poplawski was using about a gram of methamphetamine a day for personal use but was now engaging in counselling and had completed six weeks of rehabilitation.

Magistrate Anna Smith said it was clear Poplawska had been drug affected but the fact that she was on probation and bail when she committed the offences were aggravating features.

“Drugs in the community cause a whole significant damage to a number of people in the community, so sentences have to reflect that,” she said.

She noted Poplawska had put in a “significant amount” of effort at rehabilitation.

In sentencing, Ms Smith said despite the significant amount of drugs she felt a lengthy period of probation rather than a term of imprisonment would assist in ongoing rehabilitation while still reflecting the serious nature of the offences.

Poplawska was released under the supervision of authorised corrective services officers for a two-year period.

“The reason you’re actually getting this order is because it is weighted heavily in terms of ongoing rehabilitation,” Ms Smith said.

Convictions were not recorded.

Originally published as Rehannan Gibson Poplawska in Bowen court for drug charges, fraud, theft