A WINDALE man began using and dealing methamphetamine when he lost his job, his life quickly spiralling out of control until he was caught supplying 1.5 kilograms of ice and found with $180,000 last year.
Paul Andrew Norton, 55, was on Wednesday jailed for a maximum of four years after he pleaded guilty to supplying a large commercial quantity of methamphetamine and dealing with the proceeds of crime.
Norton had worked as a boilermaker and a foreman at a mine until a knee injury in 2019 meant he lost his job and he began using methamphetamine because he felt "useless".
He went from earning about $2500 a week to $450 a fortnight and quickly was unable to afford his growing drug habit, turning to supplying to feed his addiction.
Norton first came across the police radar in 2020 when he was stopped in a known drug supply area at Charlestown and found with $14,000 in cash.
The Hunter Region Enforcement Squad established Strike Force Bunjil to investigate Norton's drug supply enterprise and between March and June last year were watching and listening as he made trips to Sydney to pick up large quantities of methamphetamine and then supplied the drug in smaller quantities to his customers in Newcastle.
His operation was described as a "mid-level" dealer, but he took a number of steps to avoid detection, including meeting customers at an associate's isolated property at Lake Macquarie where he would occasionally fly a drone overhead to see if any police were in the area.
He also installed a safe in another associate's unit, where he kept the proceeds of his operation.
On June 17 last year, after he had been monitored making another trip to Sydney to pick up 280 grams of ice, police stopped Norton in his Toyota HiLux in James Street at Windale. He was found with $5000 in cash, a small bag of methamphetamine and 26 grams of cannabis.
But when police removed a part of the HiLux's dashboard they found about 221 grams of methamphetamine.
Officers then raided properties at Windale and Belmont and a storage facility at Belmont, uncovering $177,000 in cash and two tasers. Public Defender Peter Krisenthal said Norton was a man in his mid-50s with no real criminal record until he lost his job.
"It appears his self-esteem and sense of self was inextricably linked to [his job] and when that was taken away from him in 2019 his expression was "I felt useless and I went into my shell", Mr Krisenthal said.
Judge Mark Williams jailed Norton for a maximum of four years, with a non-parole period of two years and two months. He will be eligible for parole in August, 2023.
