Prison time for ‘sacked’ drug dealer

A MONGOLS bikie who was kicked out of the motorcycle club for accruing too much debt as a drug dealer has been jailed for more than two years.

Clarence Joseph Kercher (pictured) was yesterday sentenced for trafficking wholesale amounts of drugs for about 18 months during his time as a senior member of the Mongols Motorcycle Club on the Gold Coast.

Prosecutor Mark Green said Kercher, 45, racked up “significant debt” as a dealer because he would sell clients drugs on credit and fail to recover the cash, despite regularly using threats of violence and in one case physically attacking a customer.

Mr Green said Kercher was arrested in 2015 after Taskforce Maxima police investigated the club trafficking in a range of drugs including methamphetamine, cocaine, MDMA, steroids and cannabis.

Mr Green said the trafficking was “organised and secretive” and the group used encrypted messaging applications to communicate.

Defence barrister Scott Lynch said Kercher, who pleaded guilty in the Brisbane Supreme Court to drug trafficking, had a good upbringing, came from a good family, volunteered for his local coastguard service and was a loving father whose life had veered off course after a divorce.

“It’s somewhat perplexing when someone looks at his criminal history and his age to see how he got himself into this,” he said. “He is horribly contrite about what he has put his family through.”

Justice Jean Dalton said Kercher seemed to almost be living a “double life” both as a family man and a drug dealer.

Kercher was sentenced to eight years imprisonment with parole eligibility after he has served two years and two months behind bars.