By Cam Lucadou-Wells
A former apprentice-of-the-year rapidly graduated into a “higher echelon” of drug traffickers, a Victorian County Court judge has observed.
Jacob Bentley, 28, of Dandenong, was jailed on 21 April for his “middle-man” role in helping to supply 277 grams of methamphetamine.
The drugs were sold to an undercover police officer who paid $37,000 in marked notes.
Bentley, who had been on bail at the time, was arrested at his home five days after the drug deal on 17 April 2018.
During the raid, police seized nine of the marked $100 bills, as well as $2600 of other cash, a Taser, ammunition, MDMA, ice and pharmaceutical drugs.
He pleaded guilty to offences such as trafficking a commercial amount of illicit drugs, weapon charges and refusing to supply police with his phone’s password.
In sentencing, Judge Scott Johns accepted Bentley had been paid a “commission” rather than being a “major shareholder” in the drug deal.
“But you were a very useful soldier in this enterprise”.
At the time, a drug-addicted Bentley was stressed and depressed over being unemployed after a stint in jail as well as a “problematic” relationship with a co-accused woman, Judge Johns noted.
Bentley had been a talented student – despite a “disjointed, tumultuous” upbringing and undiagnosed ADHD, the judge said.
He was unable to accept a Haileybury College scholarship due to his family moving out of the area.
But he successfully completed a VCAL plumbing apprenticeship, winning an apprentice-of-the-year award at 21.
By that stage, his teenage alcohol and cannabis use elevated to ice abuse. Drugs became the centre of the accused’s social life and relationships, Judge Johns said.
“Like many before you, meth use sent you in a steady decline.
“The destruction and misery wrecked on our community due to this pernicious drug is widespread.
“You know the consequences of addiction, yet like so many other addicts, you peddle the misery down the line.”
Bentley’s “relatively brief” criminal history started at 24 and escalated to being in a “higher echelon” of drug traffickers. Since then, he had not been drug free in the community for more than a few months.
Judge Johns took into account that Bentley’s remand had been more onerous due to the Covid-19 lockdown. This included not being allowed visits for weeks, as well as the anxiety caused by the pandemic.
Bentley was jailed for up to five years and eight months, including 735 days already served in pre-sentence custody.
He will be eligible for parole after three years and 10 months.
