Samantha Jane Heron: Glam bodybuilder back in court on fresh drug charges

A former fitness model from the Gold Coast has pleaded guilty to 38 charges, including an alleged fraud that netted over $20,000.

Police allege a glamorous Gold Coast bodybuilder, who was sentenced to a suspended three-year term of imprisonment at the Brisbane Supreme Court in April, resumed offending within weeks of her parole release.

Samantha Jane Heron, 32, pleaded guilty to 38 charges at the Beenleigh Magistrates Court on Tuesday.

Bodybuilder and bikini model Samantha Jane Heron was sentenced in the Supreme Court for possessing dangerous drugs, and appeared again at the Beenleigh Magistrates Court on drugs charges on Tuesday. Picture Instagram

These charges included one count of forgery, two counts of fraud, four counts of possessing dangerous drugs and one count of possession of suspected stolen property.

The court heard all but three of the charges were allegedly committed prior to Heron’s Supreme Court sentencing on April 7, when she received a three-year suspended prison sentence for possessing commercial quantities of a “cocktail of drugs”, including cocaine, ice and GHB.

According to defence counsel Zoe Kansky of Rostron Carlyle Rojas Lawyers, Heron was a well respected and highly trained athlete when she began using ice and cocaine while partying on the Gold Coast in 2014.

What began as a weekend dalliance fast devolved into a debilitating addiction and by 2015 Heron was using dangerous drugs daily.

She has since moved away from the “bad influence” of the Gold Coast nightclub scene and lives in Agnes Water with her mother and stepfather, where she works as a receptionist for a caravan park.

. Bodybuilder and bikini model Samantha Jane Heron leaving the Supreme Court in Brisbane on April 7. Police allege she reoffended less than one month later. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

There were high hopes Heron would rehabilitate following the Supreme Court sentencing, with Justice Peter Callaghan saying he would “give (Heron) the opportunity to reward (her mother’s) faith in (her)”.

Police allege Heron was discovered to be in possession of a used glass pipe and a bag containing diazepam, oxycodone and xanax when she was driving a car through Agnes Water on May 3.

Police prosecutor sergeant Ian Adams said Heron told police she had a prescription for the drugs, but failed to produce the script and later admitted she had lied.

“She continues to be involved with drugs while on parole for serious drug charges,” Sgt Adams said.

Bodybuilder and bikini model Samantha Jane Heron was sentenced in the Supreme Court for possessing dangerous drugs. Her case at the Beenleigh Magistrates Court has been adjourned until July. Picture Instagram

Ms Kansky told the court the pipe belonged to Heron’s former partner who visited her over the Labour Day long weekend.

The court heard the fresh charges angered Heron’s mother, who gave her an ultimatum to either submit to regular home drug tests or move out of the family home.

Ms Kansky said Heron has since “turned her life around” and is “focused and motivated” to stay on track.

The court heard some of the charges which predated the Supreme Court sentencing may not have been connected to Heron’s drug offending and would therefore not be covered under the totality principle.

For example, police allege Heron conducted a fraud on June 23, 2019 that involved an excess of $20,000, that she was found in possession of $2250 of stolen cash and on three separate occasions used other peoples’ identities for the purposes of obtaining credit cards that were then fraudulently used to expend “a considerable amount of money”.

The Magistrate adjourned the case for Ms Kansky to produce Justice Callaghan’s sentencing remarks.

Heron will next appear at the Beenleigh Magistrates Court on Friday, July 16.

Originally published as Samantha Jane Heron: Glam bodybuilder back in court on fresh drug charges