“General Jimbo” was the muscle of a Wangaratta ice ring, happy to offer his services to collect drug debts for the woman who acted as his boss.
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The 30-year-old Wangaratta man, Jamie Robinson, sold drugs to his own clients as a small part of a wider syndicate worth up to $10 million across the North East during 2014.
Almost two years after his arrest, he appeared in the Melbourne County Court to plead guilty to charges of trafficking methamphetamine, OxyContin and possessing methamphetamine.
Prosecutor Max Perry said police intercepted ringleader Jessica Fogarty’s phone calls during the investigation.
Robinson was heard organising drug sales on five occasions, for a total of 9.75 grams, but police believed his involvement went further.
A drug ledger with $160,000 in sales seized from another high-ranking member of the ring included an $8890 debt for Robinson.
He had been prescribed OxyContin as a painkiller for a back injury on a job site, but also used the drug to exchange with Forgarty for ice.
Mr Perry said Robinson was the “muscle”. He was heard on phone intercepts to say “I’ll run through all the houses, they don’t know what I’m like” and “I need a good puff to clear my head and go and do damage and wreck people”.
Solicitor Zarah Garde-Wilson denied accusations of violence and said drug deals with Fogarty included small amounts.
“She relied on a lot of the males she dealt with to try to collect debts,” she said.
“There was always ‘you owe me money’ … it’s in that context the trafficking continues.”
Ms Garde-Wilson said Robinson spent many of 552 custody days spent in 22 to 23-hour per day isolation because he was charged with involvement in June’s Metropolitan Remand Centre riots.
He denied any involvement.
Winton man Travis Newey, 30, also pleaded guilty to trafficking and possessing methamphetamine, storing a firearm while unlicensed and handling stolen goods.
A police informant claimed Newey would give Fogarty $50,000 at a time for ice they could sell together for profit, but he was ripped off up to $87,000 by the end.
Judge Frank Gucciardo said damage from the ice syndicate would have been felt more severely in Wangaratta than in a metropolitan area.
“It would have, and did, cause damage in that particular area,” he said.
The cases were adjourned for sentencing in June.