‘Your children need you’: Jodi Elizabeth Richmond sentenced for drug trafficking

A mother-of-five was caught when messages on her mobile phone revealed rampant drug dealing spanning from Central Qld to the Gold Coast.

A mother-of-five has been sentenced after text messages uncovered her street-level drug trafficking operation.

A mother-of-five was caught when messages on her mobile phone revealed rampant drug dealing spanning from Central Qld to the Gold Coast.

While living in Rockhampton in 2022, Jodi Elizabeth Richmond, 31, was taken into custody for unrelated offences and her phone was confiscated as part of an ongoing investigation.

A search of the phone exposed a number of messages between her and several customers, four of whom she regularly supplied illicit substances to.

Between January and June 2022, while on bail for unrelated offences, Richmond trafficked meth and cannabis to several customers around Biggera Waters.

The police investigation revealed that during these dates, Richmond sold 17.5g of methamphetamine and small amounts of money, equating to $7000 over the six-month period, were transferred into her bank account.

Crown prosecutor C.W Wallace outlined the timeline leading up to Richmond’s eventual arrest on trafficking charges in 2024.

In July through to December 2022, police continued their investigation into her dealings.

At this stage in the investigation, a number of exchanges between Richmond and suspected customers were uncovered. Though it was deemed a low street-level operation, the existence of such messages made the distinction that Richmond was in the “business” of trafficking drugs.

A mother-of-five has been sentenced after text messages uncovered her street-level drug trafficking operation. She appeared in Bundaberg Supreme Court on Thursday, June 12, 2025.

From December 2022 t0 July 2023 police were attempting to find Richmond.

Mr Wallace said he was unsure of police officers' efforts in tracking her down but said she had appeared at a Magistrates Court in the same time period.

He said she was also sentenced for unrelated charges over the same months of their search.

July 2023 to October 2024, the court heard Richmond had disengaged from a probation order which Mr Wallace said was “her own doing”.

A warrant for her arrest was released in October 2023.

She was eventually arrested in May 2024.

Mr Wallace said his client had served 13.5 months in pre-sentence custody and from October 2024 to February 2025 registry documents had failed to progress her sentence.

Both the Crown and Richmond’s defence team agreed she had shown great commitment towards rehabilitation.

While in custody she earned a number of certifications in business, parenting and surviving domestic violence.

Mr Wallace said Richmond “demonstrated a real capacity to rehabilitate and abstain from dangerous drugs”.

Justice Crow urged the mother to break the cycle of abuse she endured as a child.

He said her upbringing with her alcoholic and drug addicted mother had been chaotic, that she went to 14 different schools and failed to complete year 10.

Since the age of 15, Richmond experienced domestic violence in all her relationships, she was introduced to dangerous drugs by one of those partners and struggled with a drug addiction since.

Justice Graeme Crow said the 31-year-old’s crimes appeared to have been to support her own habit and risked life imprisonment if she did not change her behaviour.

“You must change otherwise that will be your future,” he said.

“Your children need you.”

Richmond was sentenced to three years’ jail on the first charge.

No conviction was recorded on the second charge.

Mr Crow strongly suggested she stay away from people who take drugs and she was released from prison on the same day with 408 days declared as time served.

Her parole order requires frequent drug testing.

Originally published as ‘Your children need you’: Jodi Elizabeth Richmond sentenced for drug trafficking