Evangelos Stabelos has been jailed for his involvement in a large-scale cannabis operation in Adelaide, uncovered during a police raid on a Mid North property that revealed the operation valued up to $1.1 million.
Stabelos, 68, was sentenced in the District Court after pleading guilty to cultivating a large commercial quantity of a controlled plant.
The former mechanic and panel beater was the “gardener” of the operation at Bowmans, a small town between Port Wakefield and Balaklava. Judge Nick Alexandrides noted his role went “beyond basic gardening tasks.”
“You played a trusted role with an involvement in purchasing materials and delivering materials used in connection with the cultivation to the property,” Judge Alexandrides said. “You performed an essential role in the process of cultivating the cannabis.
“You reported that you began working for ALS Mining Supplies where you met people with whom you became engaged in cannabis production leading to the current charge.”
On March 19, 2024, using aerial surveillance, police observed Stabelos and another person at the property where they were seen tending to cannabis plants for approximately an hour. Officers then conducted a search warrant and discovered 403 cannabis plants growing in a shadecloth-covered area.
Judge Alexandrides said the cultivation was a “highly commercial operation with potentially significant rewards.”
Stabelos’ lawyer Tim Dibden, told the court his client had been “exploited” by others arrested as part of the operation.
Judge Alexandrides noted that Stabelos was paid $5000 upfront for his involvement and was expected to receive an additional $15,000.
“He [Mr Dibden] tells me that when you became involved in this criminal misadventure you felt trapped and unable to remove yourself,” Judge Alexandrides said. “It appears that you had a difficult relationship with the others involved — during the course of the enterprise you were assaulted on two occasions by co-offenders.”
It was also argued that Stabelos’ crimes were partly driven by his need to finance a heavy heroin addiction, which he used almost daily and had spent over $100,000 on in recent years.
During sentencing, Judge Alexandrides revealed Stabelos had received two previous convictions for producing cannabis. In 2007, he received a suspended sentence after police unearthed 68 cannabis plants at a Newton property, and in 2011 Stabelos was jailed for two years after police busted a Lewiston property and found 259 plants growing in glasshouses. Officers had also located 53.9kg of loose cannabis in the process of being dried. Stabelos was one of four accused from this bust.
Earlier this month, Judge Alexandrides sentenced Stabelos for three years, four months, and 16 days in prison, with a non-parole period of two years, ruling that there was insufficient justification to suspend the sentence. He also stated that home detention was “not appropriate.”
Source: The Advertiser
