An Illawarra man has been jailed for at least two years after admitting his role in an illegal cannabis distribution syndicate.
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Leti Tugaga, also known as Tom, was one of six people arrested in March following a police investigation that began in central western NSW more than a year ago.
Court documents said officers covertly monitoring one of the biggest drug dealers in the Parkes/Forbes area identified the man’s cannabis suppliers as Flinders father and son duo Jose and Joshua DeGouveia.
They passed the information on to Lake Illawarra police, who launched their own investigation.
It was discovered the pair was also selling cannabis locally through a series of associates, including Tugaga, who was dating Joshua DeGouveia’s cousin.
Tugaga, a former stevedore at Port Kembla, told his sentencing hearing in Wollongong District Court on Friday that he had turned to drug dealing after a work accident in January this year left him unemployed.
He said he was receiving a fraction of his weekly wage via a worker’s compensation payment and was struggling financially when the DeGouveias invited him into the cannabis trade.
“Once I lost my job at the wharves I hid a really rough patch….I chose the easy way,” he said in relation to his entry into the world of drugs.
“I made about $20-$50 per pound. It was enough to keep a roof over our heads.”
All up, Tugaga sold 42kgs of marijuana – almost double what is legally considered a commercial quantity of cannabis.
When asked how he felt about his crime, Tugaga said he’d had plenty of time behind bars to reflect on what he’d done and swore it would never happen again.
In sentencing Tugaga, Judge Andrew Haesler said it was clear Tugaga had been “a fundamentally decent man” who had made “a very serious criminal choice”.
“He went from being a hard working man to one who, in his own words, ‘took the easy way’.
“However, he wasn’t seeking enough money to retire to the Gold Coast and drive around in a Maserati, he wanted to provide for his family.”
With time served, Tugaga will become eligible for release from prison in March 2020, to serve a further 15 months on parole.
Tugaga was supported in court by friends and family, including his girlfriend.