Former Myer model Jed Texas jailed over Bali drug bust

Former Myer model Jed Texas will do time in Bali’s notorious Kerobokan Prison for possessing $60 worth of marijuana, which he claimed he needed to use for his anxiety.

Former Myer model Jed Texas will spend the next five years languishing in Bali’s notorious Kerobokan Prison for possessing just $60 worth of marijuana on the holiday island.

Texas, 30, was arrested in April during a raid on his villa in trendy Canggu where police found nine small plastic bags containing 85.15 grams of marijuana as well as a set of electronic scales.

Texas, who admitted his guilt, told Denpasar District Court, via video link from the jail, that his actions have left him in pain and shrouded with shame.

He plans to appeal his conviction for possession of a type 2 narcotic.

Former Myer model Jed Texas has been jailed in Bali.

Police claim that during the raid, which was triggered by a public tip-off, Texas fled from his bedroom into his bathroom and attempted to flush the nine bags of marijuana down the toilet.

Texas told the court that he treats his anxiety and mental illness by smoking weed and was drug dependent – a situation that Indonesia’s notoriously harsh drug laws often consider to be a mitigating factor when meting out sentencing.

“I couldn’t go home (during the pandemic) so I bought a lot of marijuana to relieve my anxiety.”

The former model has also been slapped with an $80,000 fine. If he does not pay it, he will face a further six months behind bars.

“Texas is guilty of committing a criminal act by possessing narcotics type one. I sentence Jed Texas to five years in prison, reduced for his time in detention (seven months),” said chief judge Gede Putra Astawa.

Jed Texas had a high-profile modelling career in Europe and Australia. Picture: Getty

Texas during his virtual trial from inside Kerobokan. Picture: Lukman S. Bintoro

Texas had been facing a maximum penalty of 20 years in jail.

“The defendant’s actions have damaged the image of Bali as a tourist destination,” Judge Astawa said.

Texas recently admitted that he used marijuana in Bali.

“I admit that my using marijuana in Indonesia is against the law. I am very sorry. I knew it was illegal, but I didn’t think the sentence would be so high like this. I use it to treat psychological disorders,” Texas told the court.

“Marijuana is legal in the UK so my access to it is easy (there). This case has left me with constant pain and shame. My family was affected too. I never thought at all about breaking the law when I vacationed in Bali,” he said.

The one-time Myer model worked for designers Burberry and Prada before moving to Melbourne in 2015.

He left Australia for Bali just as the coronavirus pandemic was sweeping the globe in March.

For Texas, Kerobokan – or Hotel K as it is locally known — is a long way from his modelling jaunts to New York, Milan and Paris, where he strutted the runways and partied with legendary model Kate Moss.

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Originally published as Former Myer model Jed Texas jailed over Bali drug bust