A drug-dealing escort was caught trafficking meth and ecstasy because she was using fake police lights to get to court on time.
Ebony Lerra Holland-Harris was jailed for more than three years in the Adelaide District Court after pleading guilty to five counts of drug trafficking.
Her ‘well-organized’ operation, which included a ledger detailing $50,000 in drug debts, was uncovered in bizarre circumstances.
The 31-year-old was running late for an appearance in the Adelaide Magistrates Court last May and got her co-accused Benjamin Michael Stacey to give her a lift.
Police spotted the car speeding down Main North Road with blue and red emergency lights flashing and pulled them over.
They noticed a Samurai sword protruding from the boot through the back seat centerfold, prompting a full search of the car.
The search found 12.35g of MDMA in various forms, including powder and tablets, and 5.34g of meth in two bags she was carrying.
Officers also seized the sword, a loaded air rifle, and stolen tools along with $4,760 in cash.
The pair were arrested and a search of Holland-Harris’ home in Elizabeth Park uncovered 48.5g of ecstasy and 9.28g of meth.
Police also found a paper notebook labeled ‘debts’ which she claimed were merely loans to friends, at times including drugs they had also taken.
But Judge Simon Stretton was unconvinced, noting the buyers were from all over Adelaide and totaled more than $50,000.
‘It had a number of references to drugs through slang and shorthand … a police declaration states that the format and entries of this notebook indeed are consistent with a drug dealer’s tick list,’ he said in sentencing.
The ledger also noted items such as jewelry, including bracelets, rings, and watches, small electronics such as tablets, phones, and laptops, or weapons such as tasers.
‘The potential inference is that you took these items for payment or somehow on account, in some way, for the drugs,’ Judge Stretton said.
He slammed Holland-Harris for extending as much as $10,000 to addicts, which he said placed them in ‘particularly desperate situations’.
‘Trafficking drugs such as these are a blight on our community and cause carnage in our society. They wreck lives, destroy families and they are at the root of much-related crime,’ he said.
Holland-Harris claimed the cash found in the car was from pokies winnings, her work as an escort, and Centrelink payments.
But the judge found her evidence to be ‘entirely unconvincing’ and said the ‘overwhelming inference’ was the cash was gained from dealing drugs.
‘You were vague, evasive and regrettably, at the end of the day the court cannot accept your evidence as to the legitimate sources of those funds as even a reasonable possibility,’ he said.
‘The quantities, the tick lists, and the cash indicate that you were undertaking a substantial street-level trafficking operation with a view to profit.’
Judge Stretton detailed her troubled childhood said it had played a role in her drug addiction, which led to her to begin dealing and trafficking.
Holland-Harris will serve at least 18 months behind bars before she is eligible for parole.