SA and Adelaide street-level drug dealers sentenced for their crimes so far this year
They sold drugs to fund their own addiction or to make quick cash – but now they’ve been punished. Here are more street-level drug dealers sentenced in court.
Some were addicts trying to fund their addictions, others needed protection after falling victim to violence, while others were just after a quick buck.
Here are some of the street-level drug dealers sentenced in South Australian courts over the past few months. You can read the lists for May and November last year here.
Renee Betterman-Paltridge
A mother with a “crippling” drug addiction avoided jail after she assisted her boyfriend with his enterprise.
Renee Winnis Betterman-Paltridge, 31, was reminded by the judge who gave her another chance to turn her life around that drugs simply destroy lives.
During sentencing, the District Court heard police saw Betterman-Paltridge’s vehicle parked in Pooraka on November 11, 2022.
They pulled over the car and Betterman-Paltridge’s partner at the time, Deon Vermey, looked like he was trying to drop an item behind the seat.
Police searched the vehicle and found a black bumbag with $2050 and a water bottle containing 245g of fantasy.
Betterman-Paltridge and Vermey both pleaded guilty to drug trafficking.
Vermey was sentenced to more than three years home detention last month.
The court heard Betterman-Paltridge had a crippling drug addiction and Vermey supplied her with drugs.
“In this regard, you were ready and prepared to assist Vermey in his drug-selling activities by driving him from place to place when called upon by him to facilitate his drug deals,” Judge Paul Muscat said.
Betterman-Paltridge was sentenced to two years and two months’ jail, with a non-parole period of 10 months.
However, due to her rehabilitation attempts, the sentence was suspended on an 18-month good behaviour bond.
“Drugs simply destroy lives,” Judge Muscat said. “All they do is cover up the problems, they do not fix the problems, but I think you know that now.”
Paul Lawler
A serious drug offender who turned to using drugs after tragedy befell his wife and child was jailed after his victimisation uncovered illicit substances.
While on home detention bail, Paul Anthony Lawler, 51, was the victim of a serious criminal trespass and assault on February 4, 2024.
Police executed a search warrant at Lawler’s Elizabeth East home and discovered a 500ml bottle labelled “antibacterial soap” which contained 433g of 1.4 butanediol.
Officers further located two small vials also containing the drug, alongside other paraphernalia indicative of sale.
During sentencing, Judge Ian White said Lawler had a “positive” upbringing in Port Lincoln but began using meth to cope following the death of his wife and son in a motor vehicle accident.
The court heard he fell into “heavy addiction” and began offending in conjunction with his usage and was considered a “serious drug offender”.
The 51-year-old pleaded guilty to one count of trafficking in a controlled drug.
Judge White sentenced Lawler to three years, three months and 28 days imprisonment with a non-parole period of two years, seven months and 29 days.
The sentence was backdated to February 6, 2024.
Nathan Flaherty
A dealer is behind bars after he turned to drugs as a coping strategy when a street gang targeted him and fired shots at his house.
Nathan Stephen Flaherty, 30, was jailed for more than five years for selling multiple drugs, including synthetic drugs from overseas.
During sentencing, the District Court heard police attended his property on May 24, 2023, and found 143g of dried cannabis, 13g cocaine and 11g of a synthetic drug similar to MDMA.
“The cannabis is valued at about $1000 and the cocaine at around $5000,” Judge Heath Barklay said.
“You purchased the synthetic drugs online from China.”
Police also located 440g of N, N-dimethylpentylone, a synthetic stimulant, a hydraulic press and a phone revealing drug dealing text messages.
The court heard police attended Flaherty’s house again on January 18, 2024, and found more N, N-dimethylpentylone.
Flaherty pleaded guilty to multiple counts of drug trafficking.
The court heard he first turned to drugs in his teenage years after being bullied and harassed by a street gang.
“Some of its members fired shots at your family home, and it was around that time that you developed a problem with illicit drugs, such as cocaine and synthetic MDMA, as a maladaptive coping strategy to manage anxiety levels,” Judge Barklay said.
The court heard Flaherty, who also has a prior conviction for drug trafficking, was selling to fund his own habit.
Flaherty was sentenced to five years and six months’ jail, with a non-parole period of two years and nine months.
Daniel Wilson
A drug dealer is behind bars again after he offered a child $5000 to take the rap for him.
Daniel Lee Wilson, 32, panicked after realising police were on his tail when he made the offer.
During sentencing, the District Court heard police searched Wilson’s house on October 11, 2023, while he was not home.
In a safe they found 30g of mixed methamphetamine, 19 Suboxone strips, $11,000, a heat sealer device and plastic bags.
Wilson had been released on parole about eight weeks earlier.
The court heard police contacted Wilson and asked him to return home, which he refused.
Wilson then contacted a person known to him, who was a child.
“You asked him to contact police and tell them that he had found various items, including ‘cash, gear, bute and a gold necklace’ in a bag at Port Noarlunga whilst fishing,” Judge Ian Press said.
Wilson asked him to tell police he had asked him to store the items in the safe and promised to pay him $5000 for doing so.
“It does appear that the story quickly unravelled when you tried to tell police the same story,” Judge Press said.
“I accept that this plan was hatched at a time when you were panicking about what was going to happen to you.”
The court heard Wilson, who has prior convictions for drug trafficking, increased his meth use upon release from jail and began trafficking again to defray the costs.
Wilson was sentenced to six years and 11 months’ jail, with a non-parole period of four years and seven months.
The sentence was backdated to October 11, 2023.
Daniel Eelbeck and Shaun Hunt
A poor-quality “party supply” worth up to $100,000 was how two men explained more than 350g of cocaine and other drugs found in their southern suburbs home.
District Court Judge Anthony Allen said the drugs could have been explained as a drug debt, and an amount sold to friends at parties – but not all of it.
Former housemates Daniel John Eelbeck, 32, and Shaun Richard William Hunt, 33, were sentenced on March 4, 2025 for their street-level dealing of a commercial quantity of drugs.
The housemates were also found to be growing 10 cannabis plants, which Hunt helped Eelbeck – the principal offender – maintain while they both used the crop for their own habits.
When police arrived at the pair’s Noarlunga Downs property, Hunt was found trying to hide a fishing reel box within a small bin, and another box under the home’s decking containing blocks of about 350g of cocaine and 247g of cannabis.
They both pleaded guilty to commercial drug trafficking and cultivating cannabis, while Eelbeck also pleaded guilty to other trafficking charges.
Judge Allen sentenced Eelbeck to three years, five months and 17 days’ in jail, with a non parole period of one year, five months and 17 days – and said nothing as he was taken to the cells.
Hunt was sentenced to 10 months and 23 days, suspended on a $500, two-year good behaviour bond.
Christian Khan
A Port Augusta father was “tired of being broke” when he decided to make a “quick buck” and start selling meth in his town.
Christian Vaughan Khan, 55, was jailed for three years, nine months and 28 days after pleading guilty to trafficking a controlled drug, possessing a controlled drug and money laundering.
On October 11, 2023, police attended Khan’s property – where he lived with his 17-year-old son – and, inside his bedroom, located two plastic resealable bags containing 2.76g of meth, plastic tub containing 20 plastic resealable bags, a black pouch containing $790 in cash, a Samsung mobile phone and about $1000 in $5 notes.
Police also found a Coke bottle containing 65.7g of fantasy and $22,000 in a plastic container inside a plastic bag hidden underneath a wheelie bin in his backyard.
In his first interview with police, Khan denied knowledge of the money but in a second interview, revealed he was in fact aware of it and had been saving for the past three years.
During sentencing, District Court Judge Joanna Sutcliffe said Khan’s offending put his son’s “stability at risk at an important time in his life”.
“You are not a first offender, and you were trading as a street-level dealer motivated by profit,” she said.
“You are remorseful, and regret being tempted to offend as a strategy to deal with your financial problems, and you are willing to engage in rehabilitation.”
Judge Sutcliffe issued a non-parole period of one year and 11 months.
Nathan Turner
A man who blew through $240,000 in compo after a car crash was found with meth and cocaine asleep in the driver’s seat of a car next to a police station.
Nathan Robert Turner, 24, avoided jail after he began using meth daily to deal with the grief of losing his brother.
During sentencing, the District Court heard police went to investigate after hearing strange noises on February 19, 2023, at Elizabeth.
They found a vehicle in the car wash carpark adjacent to the police station.
“When they approached they observed you to be asleep in the driver’s seat with your head slumped down and the vehicle still running,” Judge Geraldine Davison said.
They opened the driver’s door and a yellow metal lockbox fell out, which contained two plastic resealable bags of meth and cocaine.
There were also plastic resealable bags in Turner’s lap containing 219 clonazepam tablets.
The court heard Turner intended to use some of the drugs for himself but was planning to sell the majority.
Turner pleaded guilty to two counts of drug trafficking.
The court heard Turner’s meth use increased after he suffered a brain injury in a car accident that killed his brother.
He was awarded about $280,000 in compensation from the collision.
“You used the money for your substance abuse and gambling,” Judge Davison said.
“By the time of your arrest you only had $40,000 left in your bank account.”
Turner was sentenced as a “street-level dealer” to three years and six months jail, with a non-parole period of two years.
However, due to his rehabilitation effort, the sentence was suspended on a three-year good behaviour bond.
Billy Jaye Hayes
A man with a history of violent offences began dealing drugs to fund his habit – but “protected” himself with sawn-off guns because of bikie-related threats.
Billy Jaye Hayes, 33, was arrested after police received a tip-off he had pointed a loaded firearm at someone.
On June 14, 2024, officers spotted Hayes driving unlicensed and attempted to pull him over before he ran on foot to an Everard Park address.
Two loaded sawn-off firearms – a 0.22 rifle and a double-barrel shotgun – were inside the car.
Police located a hard black case in the home’s garden with two separate bags containing 102.1g cannabis, eight bags containing 92.09g methamphetamine, one bag containing 2.8g cocaine and 54 MDMA tablets.
Drug dealing paraphernalia and $2685 in cash were also located.
Inside Hayes’ bedroom, police located a backpack containing another firearm – a sawn-off bolt-action rifle – and 30 ammunition rounds.
The court heard Hayes began carrying the loaded firearms outside his home after becoming the victim of outlaw motorcycle gang members, being “kidnapped” and “bashed” on multiple occasions.
Judge Heath Barklay sentenced Hayes to five years, three months imprisonment with three years, three months non-parole.
The sentence was backdated to his arrest on June 14, 2025.
Preston Slick
An addict who kept his meth use as a “secret life” hidden from his ex-wife and family has been jailed for eight years after being busted dealing drugs twice while on bail.
Preston Robert Slick, 34, of Seaford Meadows, was sentenced in April in the District Court, which heard he began selling meth and the date-rape drug bute after his divorce, around when his drug use “peaked”.
The court heard the street-level dealer was at home with his daughter when STAR Group officers raided his house in August 2023.
They found meth and 1,4-butanediol throughout his bedroom as well as a tick list, scales, three portable EFTPOS machines and receipts and cash totalling $7455.
His phone held messages regarding dealing drugs.
Slick was charged with drug dealing and released on bail, but was busted with more meth and bute a month later during a search of his home and given a six-month suspended jail term.
The next day police again searched his home, finding more bute and meth.
This time, they also found a gel blaster, Winchester .22 ammo, a taser and silencer.
In total, police seized 1L of bute, 45g of meth and more than $11,000 in cash and receipts over the three raids.
Judge Geraldine Davison said Slick became addicted to meth at 18, and described to a psychologist as “like having a secret life” he hid from his family and wife.
“Following your divorce and losing custody of your two sons in 2022, you recall giving up and having no reason to keep on trying,” Judge Davison said.
“You blamed yourself for losing your family … drug use alleviated the shame and pain. You lost your employment.”
The court heard Slick obtained the weapons after being seriously injured when two people ransacked his home and assaulted him with a machete and hammer a week before his arrest.
“Your car was stolen and later found destroyed. The next day a friend gave you a firearm. You now regret this decision,” she said.
Slick was sentenced as a serious repeat offender to eight years in jail, with a non-parole period of six years, four months and 25 days.
Ian James Ogilvie
A drug dealer who sold cannabis to his friends to make money to feed his rampant marijuana addiction has been ordered to serve his jail term on home detention.
Ian James Ogilvie, 43, was also jailed for possessing gel blasters and a handgun, which he told a court he found in his roof.
Ogilvie was sentenced in the District Court in June after pleading guilty to multiple drug trafficking and firearms offences.
Judge Anthony Allen said police discovered four vacuum-sealed bags of marijuana in a car, another four in a bedroom, two in the kitchen, two more in the lounge room, a cash-counting machine, drug-selling equipment and three tasers.
They also found 27 gel blasters and the handgun, which had been fired recently.
Hydroponic equipment was discovered in one room but no cannabis was growing.
Ogilvie told police he found the handgun in the roof cavity during renovations, while he could not bring himself to give up the gel blasters when they became illegal because of how much they cost.
The court heard he set up the grow room six or seven years ago but it wasn’t successful and he had bought the cannabis found by police, which he used for mental health.
It heard it deteriorated after an assault in January 2020 during which he sustained facial injuries and amnesia and had now been prescribed with medicinal cannabis.
Judge Allen said Ogilvie was not a “proactive cannabis dealer” but had “amassed a significant quantity of cannabis – far beyond that which you could ever smoke for your medicinal needs”.
“I accept that you possessed the cannabis on the basis that you would smoke a significant quantity yourself, supply a quantity of that cannabis and sell a quantity of that cannabis to a relatively limited circle of known persons.
“By your pleas of guilty you acknowledge that you would have nonetheless sold a significant quantity of the drug.”
Judge Allen said Ogilvie was also trying to defray the cost of setting up his failed hydroponic grow room.
“Your possession of the handgun is extremely serious. This is a particularly nefarious type of firearm which creates great danger,” he said.
But he found Ogilvie did not possess the firearms in the course of his drug dealing.
He jailed Ogilvie to four years, 10 months and seven days, with a non-parole period of two years and eight months, and found reason he could serve his sentence on home detention.
Vlasios Manikas
A former pizza-maker dealing “juice” from the back of his car outside the Playford Tavern after a marriage breakdown has been jailed for at least one year and eight months.
Vlasios Manikas, 36, pleaded guilty in the District Court to trafficking a large commercial quantity of drugs.
The court heard police found him sleeping in his car outside the tavern on July 11, 2023, after staff reported someone dealing drugs the night before.
He told police there was “juice” in his car boot and they found several shoe boxes containing six white 500ml bottles wrapped in plastic filled with three litres of 1,4-Butanediol, or fantasy, which is a known date-rape drug.
Police also found two Apple iPads, nine mobile phones and digital scales.
Judge Heath Barklay said at the time, Manikas was separated from his wife of 15 years and their two young children and was living out of his car, which led him to start using meth to deal with depression.
The court heard he was a “mule” and was providing fantasy to another seller for no financial benefit but had been promised money.
“One wonders why you would perform the role of mule for a lengthy period of time for nothing,” Judge Barklay said.
“The prosecution submit that it is open to infer that you were dealing drugs from your car yourself; that you had been doing so the night before; that while you were a drug user, you were also motivated by financial gain. It was submitted that you should be sentenced on the basis that you were a mid-level dealer.”
The court heard Manikas was not dealing drugs the night before and was only at the tavern to “get a haircut”
“It is unclear if you accept you are a mid-level dealer,” Judge Barklay said, sentencing him on the basis that he was dealing drugs to fund his own habit and make money.
He sentenced Manikas - who described his time in custody as “torture” to three years and four months’ jailed, with a non-parole period of one year and eight months, backdated to commence from February 26, 2024.
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