Repeat offender arrested with $170,000 stash of methamphetamine after motorcycle stop is arrested

A drug dealer who was caught with about 200 grams of methamphetamine worth up to $170,000 after being stopped while riding a motorcycle has been sentenced to nearly three years in prison.

Huon Gendall, 32, pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court of Tasmania to trafficking in a controlled substance and dealing with the proceeds of crime.

The court heard that Gendall was stopped by police in the Huon Valley on June 25, 2023, after his gait “caught the attention” of several officers.

Police saw him trying to throw away his phone, which was later seized, along with a backpack containing $1,145 in cash and 59 individual bags filled with methamphetamine, totaling 170.3 grams.

A subsequent search of his home found digital scales with traces of the illicit drug, electronic scales, spare snaplock bags, a metal spoon and three more bags containing the drug, weighing a total of 8.48 grams.

The court heard that Gendall’s life had been “substantially affected” by illicit drug use since his early 20s and that he had been convicted of possession offenses since 2014.

In 2018, he was given a six-month suspended sentence on drug-related charges, including sale and possession of controlled substances and driving with a controlled drug in his blood.

Despite this, Gendall continued to commit crimes and in 2019 was convicted of trafficking methamphetamine and other drugs.

He was given a drug treatment order with a two-year probation period, but breached the conditions and served 11 months of a two-year sentence.

Judge Robert Pearce said the current offense was committed nine months after his release and he had returned to using drugs.

He noted that some of the methamphetamine found in his possession was for his own use, but the rest was intended for sale.

“You say it was to fund your own addiction,” he said.

“However, the individual bags found in your possession indicate that you intended a considerable number of sales in a substantial total quantity of considerable value.”

Judge Pearce said Gendall’s offending was “not isolated or out of character” and that he was on bail for other crimes at the time.

He said that although his guilty plea was in his favor, it was “an acknowledgment of the inevitable”.

“It is an aggravating factor that you were on bail for other crimes at the time, although those crimes are still unsolved,” he said.

“You express a desire, with the help of your new partner, to make further attempts to overcome your addiction and move away from your associations with drugs and crime.”

“All prospects for rehabilitation are not lost.”

Judge Pearce sentenced Gendall to two years and nine months in prison, with a non-parole period of one year and four and a half months.

He ordered the confiscation of several items seized by police, including drugs, scales and cash, to the state.