A WOMAN has been spared a conviction in court after offering to supply drugs in Tamworth's Imperial Hotel.
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Sophie Langanbaker has walked from Tamworth Local Court on a bond, and if she stays out of trouble and off drugs for two years, that will be the end of her criminal woes.
Just shy of her 20th birthday, Langenbaker was sentenced after pleading guilty to knowingly taking part in the supply of 0.4g of MDMA between November 16, and November 17 in Tamworth, last year.
Magistrate Julie Soars agreed to place her on a conditional release order, or good behaviour bond without conviction, for two years on conditions she undergo medical treatment and attend appointments, and abstain from drugs.
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The police - working as part of a secret strike force - discovered Langenbaker's involvement in the drug scene at the Imperial Hotel after she told a co-accused supplier: "I'll do it"; and if "it's easy for me to do, I'll do it".
According to court documents, Strike Force Heyward was launched in July last year to investigate "the supply of MDMA and cocaine within the Imperial Hotel, Tamworth".
In facts tendered to the court, Langenbaker said "will do, love ya" when told by the male co-accused "no one else can come up to ya".
The co-accused had told Langenbaker that he "need[ed] cash in that club tonight coz I need to make a couple of hundred bucks but I don't trust any of the boys I am with".
But at 12.54am on November 17, Langenbaker sent a text message after discovering police in the pub.
"Hey um just letting you know I have moved four," she wrote in a text message.
"But I am not moving anymore."
When the co-accused said "alright, easy", Langenbaker texted him: "There is undercovers here".
While police conceded they didn't catch Langenbaker in the act of dealing or exchanging any money, investigators said "the action of the offender amount to agreement to supply" - the offence she admitted to in court.
According to the police facts, when she was arrested and questioned about the text messages, Langenbaker explained to police that she told her co-accused "that she had supplied the four capsules to get him 'off her back' because she was intimidated by his conduct over the course of that evening, and that she in fact did not engage in the actual supply of prohibited drugs".
Several co-accused arrested by Strike Force Heyward police remain before the court.
Breanna Chillingworth
Northern Daily Leader Senior Crime and Court Reporter
Northern Daily Leader Senior Crime and Court Reporter
