Clint Walker: Bracknell dad charged with drug trafficking

A Tasmanian single father was discovered with nearly one kilogram of cannabis when police executed a search warrant in the hunt for stolen trail cameras worth hundreds.

Alleged Bracknell cannabis trafficker Clint Leonard Walker, 42. Picture: Facebook

A Tasmanian father of three paid for three stolen trail cameras worth hundreds of dollars with two ounces of cannabis, a court has heard.

Bracknell man Clint Leonard Walker, 42, appeared in Launceston Magistrates Court on Tuesday charged with nine offences.

They included trafficking in cannabis, possessing and supplying cannabis, receiving stolen property, and firearms offences.

Walker pleaded not guilty to trafficking but guilty to the other charges. Tasmania Police discontinued three of the five weapons charges.

The court heard Walker’s offending was detected via an analysis of the mobile phone belonging to the camera’s thief, a friend of Walker.

The three trail cameras were reported stolen on March 31, with a search warrant executed on Walker’s friend’s house later that day.

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Retrieved messages showed Walker and his friend discussing the cameras and what would be an acceptable price for them.

Walker’s friend suggested he would accept an ounce of cannabis, with Walker offering to bump it up to two ounces, which was accepted.

A search warrant was executed on the Bracknell home Walker shares with his father and three children on May 13 last year.

There, police discovered the stolen cameras, unregistered air rifles, and dozens of clipseal bags of cannabis, including 52 bags containing between 26.2g–27.34g, as well as other quantities of the drug elsewhere in the residence.

Walker, who wasn’t home at the time of the search, attended Longford Police Station on May 22, where he attempted to minimise his conduct relating to the cameras.

The court heard he told officers that he “had no idea where (his friend) got the cameras from, didn’t know they were stolen (but) thought they might have been”.

Defence lawyer Charmaine Gibson said her client, who works full-time as an excavator driver, grew the cannabis himself.

She said he had significant responsibilities with the care of his children and had no relevant convictions on his criminal record.

Magistrate Ken Stanton sentenced him on all charges but the possessing and trafficking cannabis to a fine of $2000, with costs and levies of an additional $151.40.

He said he was unable to sentence on the possession charge as, according to the facts, it consisted of a “trafficable quantity” of the drug. It was adjourned sine dai.

The charge of trafficking was committed to the Supreme Court, with Walker due to appear next on March 14.

Originally published as Clint Walker: Bracknell dad charged with drug trafficking