Ex-stripper trafficker is freed

AN ex-stripper jailed for her role in a large-scale illegal cannabis operation in Victoria has won a bid for freedom.

Carley Stevens, 26, was sentenced in the County Court on

February 19 to nine months’ prison after pleading guilty to trafficking cannabis. The former nursing student (pictured) was busted at Melbourne Airport in March 2017 after police raided the Bentleigh home she shared with her partner.

Investigators seized 15kg of dried cannabis valued at $200,000, cash, names and addresses of suspected customers and drug packaging.

Victoria Police detectives found more than 1kg of cannabis had been sold on the dark web between December 2016 and March 2017.

Stevens worked as a tabletop dancer, studied nursing at ACU and was employed as an e-commerce manager for Sneakerboy at the time of the offending.

In a bid to have her sentence reduced, Stevens told the Court of Appeal she had been “in the grip of drug addiction” when she chose to go along with her boyfriend’s drug scheme. But justices Karin Emerton and Mark Weinburg said Stevens was “an intelligent woman who well understood” what she was getting herself into.

“She did so in order to support a lifestyle, rather than an addiction,” they said.

But they found Stevens had only “played a limited role” and had good prospects for rehabilitation.

Stevens was resentenced to 128 days in prison, counted as time served, and a two-year community corrections order. She must undergo drug counselling, mental health treatment and complete 100 hours of community work.

Stevens was also sentenced to pay a $500 fine for dealing with the proceeds of crime.