An ex-Bachelorette “star” who was found in a car with cannabis was spared jail time in exchange for drug abstinence and community service requirements.
When police stopped Samuel Colin Minkin, 30, who had just bought a Toyota Hiace using someone else’s money but his own name, he was charged with distributing illegal substances.
Police stopped the van on the M1 motorway north of Byron Bay because it was carrying more than 144 kilograms of cannabis packaged in 322 separate vacuum-sealed packages and nine crates.
Crown consented Although Minkin was only a passenger, he was aware that the amount of drugs was much higher than the legal limit of 25 kg for commercial use.
Days before to their arrest in May 2021, Minkin and a co-offender had just started using specialized encrypted devices on the AnOm platform.
The Australian Federal Police and the FBI were able to monitor all of the offenders’ communications back then while they believed they were being protected from police spying on them.
Although Minkin was not the only person involved in Operation Ironside, Judge Warwick Hunt remarked that Minkin’s offense was “towards the bottom end of the mid-range of objective seriousness” when he handed down the sentence in the NSW District Court on Monday.
But Minkin’s smaller offenses were getting disproportionate attention.
The judge noted that Mr. Minkin “has some limited social and media notoriety apparently as a result of his involvement in a reality TV show.”
He is referred to as a “Bachelorette star” in several stories, which is a reference to the reality TV program that reportedly given him some media notoriety.
When Minkin arrived at the mansion in 2020, he charmed co-bachelorettes Becky and Elly Miles with his distinctive dolphin impression.
Sadly, his chances of finding love were crushed when he was fired from the show in episode one.
A “general feeling of odium” was heightened, the judge claimed, by articles detailing Minkin’s demise as Operation Ironside was receiving widespread press. These articles also frequently appeared alongside articles about paedophiles and bikies.
Police were covertly monitoring the AN0M app.
The judge ruled that Minkin must abstain from drugs during his two-year intensive corrections order and complete 400 hours of community service. “Additionally, to have one’s reputation perhaps irretrievably linked to criminal misdeeds itself does some more of the work of specific deterrence in this particular case,” the judge said.
Minkin admitted to having a tiny amount of ketamine in his possession as well, although his conviction carried no additional penalties.
