It was the life of crime that paid very well – up to $64,000 per week during the most successful times.
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Wangaratta woman, Jessica Fogarty, 26, was forced to swap that high life of running a multi-million dollar drug syndicate for the inside of a prison cell when she was arrested exactly a year ago, on September 11, 2014.
She appeared in the Wangaratta Magistrates Court on Thursday to plead guilty to nine charges including the head charge of trafficking a commercial quantity of methamphetamine between 2010 and 2014.
Court documents state the drug syndicate involved 27 members who supplied the drug ice to Wangaratta, Wodonga, Beechworth, Benalla, Yarrawonga, Chiltern and Rutherglen.
Fogarty bought six to eight ounces of ice per week at a cost of $8000 per ounce.
Detectives used phone intercepts to track her conversations and discovered she was trafficking at all hours, only sleeping a few of hours every couple of days.
While her Ovens Street home was used as a base to sell drugs, a second rental house in Warby Street was used as a “safe house” for associates to deliver drugs and hold meetings.
The drug syndicate was run with the help of alleged criminal associates who travelled to Wangaratta to use violence and intimidation to collect drug debts, taking cars, furniture and other assets when the cash could not be paid.
Fogarty smiled at friends and family in the courtroom on Thursday before stating “I plead guilty” when asked by the magistrate.
Solicitor, George Douglas, said Fogarty would not apply for bail.
“She’s been in custody for a year and she’s looking at a significant jail sentence,” he said.
The case will go to a directions hearing at the Wangaratta County Court on September 18 before a plead hearing later this year.
Co-accused David Rose, 31, of Corowa, pleaded guilty to trafficking methamphetamine and had his case adjourned to September 18.
Brodie Booth, 25, also pleaded guilty to trafficking methamphetamines, but solicitor, Zarah Garde-Wilson, said she would apply to have the case heard in the Magistrates Court in November.
