A GUNNEDAH couple has admitted to supplying undercover police with hundreds of dollars’ worth of the drug ice, after they were exposed by a secret investigation headed by local detectives.
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The extent of Mark Lee Wortley and Helen Eason’s drug dealing in Gunnedah late last year was revealed in Tamworth Local Court yesterday, after the pair admitted to a raft of offences triggered by a police operation, codenamed Strike Force Codes.
Yesterday, Wortley and Eason pleaded guilty to supplying on an ongoing basis – a charge that carries a maximum penalty of 20 years behind bars.
Court documents revealed Wortley supplied an undercover police officer on four occasions between October 28 and November 11, 2014, handing over 0.33g of ice in exchange for $400, while Eason supplied an officer on three occasions in November last year, supplying 2.67g of methylamphetamine in exchange for $2200.
Oxley detectives, who formed the undercover police operation in May 2014 to home in on the suppliers of ice in Gunnedah, intercepted the pair’s phone records; 135 supplies totalling 56.05g of methylamphetamine have been attributed to Wortley, while investigators have been able to pinpoint 10 supplies totalling 1.95g of methylamphetamine to Eason.
The Leader was there when the investigation unfolded as dozens of Oxley police officers raided homes in Hopedale Ave, Gunnedah, on February 3 this year, before Wortley was arrested.
Eason, who police had been told flew to Bali shortly before the raids, was arrested when she was intercepted by border officials coming back into Australia on February 7 at the Sydney International Airport.
Wortley has been in custody since his arrest and appeared via video link in court from Cessnock Maximum Security Centre yesterday, while Eason, who appeared in court in a checkered shirt, white pants and thongs, remains on Supreme Court bail.
Yesterday, the pair also pleaded guilty to knowingly dealing with the proceeds of crime, after police investigations showed they made $40,000 from the sale of ice between October and November 2014.
The cash was hidden in a Gunnedah home.
The pair admitted to dealing with property suspected to be the proceeds of crime. Court documents show between September and January, Wortley and Eason purchased a Nissan Navara, Mini Cooper, Toyota HiLux for $39,000, as well as a jet boat worth $4000.
“At the time of the above purchases, Wortley and Eason were living in government housing and in receipt of government benefits. Neither were employed,” court facts state.
Eason pleaded guilty to three drug-related offences. Three offences will be taken into account in sentencing.
Wortley pleaded guilty to four charges, including procuring a 15-year-old boy to supply drugs, with charges of dealing with the suspected proceeds of crime and knowingly exposing a child to drugs in a house to be taken into account in sentencing.
Six offences were withdrawn by the Director of Public Prosecutions yesterday before Magistrate Michael Holmes committed the pair for sentence in Tamworth District Court in February next year.