Former Olympic swimmer Scott Miller has been sentenced to more than five years in jail for playing a "central role" in a drug supply operation.
Miller, 47, was sentenced in the NSW District Court alongside two accomplices, Wayne Allan Johnson, 49 and Justin Szabolics, 47, who also pleaded guilty to several charges including supplying methamphetamine and heroin and participating in a criminal group.
In January 2021, the District Court heard Miller had a secret compartment in a Toyota Camry that he used to transport methamphetamine, hidden in eight white candles.
Hidden cameras installed in the car by police tracked Miller and Johnson on a trip from Balmain to Yass, where they handed the drugs and the car over to Szabolics and another man who has already been sentenced.
The pair were arrested after speeding away from a random roadside police stop, and dumping the bag of drugs behind a tree near the Hume Highway.
A search warrant of Miller's home in Rozelle in February 2021 uncovered commercial quantities of heroin in a bag in his wardrobe, several mobile phones and more than $72,000 in proceeds of crime which was stashed in a bag and hidden inside a locked safe.
The court heard a forensic lab found the methamphetamine had been melted into the candle wax.
Miller has been convicted and sentenced to five years and six months jail, and will be eligible for parole in February 2024.
In sentencing, Judge Penelope Hock said Miller was a successful Olympic swimmer whose mental health struggles began when he went to live and train at the Australian Institute of Sport as a 15-year-old boy.
"These problems have continued over subsequent years and have at least contributed to his substance abuse," Judge Hock told the court.
She said Miller's personal drug use escalated after retiring from swimming in 2004, and the collapse of his trucking business during the COVID-19 pandemic further contributed to his mental health decline.
Judge Hock told the court Miller's intentions were to be a "law abiding husband, father, son" and to use his profile to help others to avoid his path.
She also took into account the unusually harsh jail conditions during the pandemic, which has involved periods of isolation.
Justin Szabolics was sentenced to three years and nine months in jail, and will be eligible for parole two years from his arrest date.
Wayne Allan Johnson will be released from jail today after being sentenced to an Intensive Correction Order in the community.
