A Tasmanian family’s Snapchat-run drug trafficking operation has been dismantled following police raids that netted methylamphetamine worth up to $384,700.
Dylan Patmore, his ex-girlfriend Riarne Sweeney and his 61-year-old mother Kaylene Howlett all fronted the Supreme Court after pleading guilty to trafficking controlled substances.
Police discovered the operation on May 24, 2023, when officers executed a drug related search warrant at an address in Claremont.
Inside, officers seized a phone linked to a Snapchat account under the name “fred_hollows21”, later identified as Patmore. The account contained suspicious messages pointing to drug deals.
Chief Justice Chris Shanahan told the court that Howlett acted as a courier, picking up drugs from a “stash house” in Gagebrook and attempting to deliver them.
She was pulled over shortly after leaving the property, with police finding 27.6 grams of methylamphetamine in her car.
A follow-up raid at Sweeney’s home turned up 334.4 grams of methylamphetamine, 273 grams of MDMA, 50.3 grams of white powder and $1,875 in cash.
At Patmore’s Pontville address, police found more drugs, including 1.7 grams of white powder containing both methylamphetamine and cocaine, 1.5 grams of methylamphetamine, various amounts of cannabis and $1,970 in cash.
“It was not asserted that you were part of the high level management of this drug trafficking, but as a person who guarded and concealed this quantity of drugs you played a fundamental role in enabling substantial drug trafficking to occur,” Chief Justice Shanahan told Sweeney during sentencing.
The court heard Patmore directed both his girlfriend and mother, with Howlett receiving petrol money and other payments that ended up in Patmore’s TAB betting account.
Despite the large quantities, 15 times the trafficable limit for methylamphetamine and 27 times for MDMA, all three avoided immediate jail time.
Sweeney, who shares a seven-month-old baby with Patmore, was handed a 12-month prison sentence, wholly suspended for 18 months, along with 120 hours of community service.
Patmore was sentenced to 15 months’ home detention with electronic monitoring, while his mother received a four-month suspended sentence.
Sweeney was also ordered to pay $7,683 for drug analysis costs and the court ordered the forfeiture of all seized drugs and cash.
Since her arrest, Sweeney has moved to New Norfolk, cut ties with her old circle and now runs a cleaning business while raising her child.
