Jack Bobridge jailed for more than four years for dealing ecstasy
Two-time Australian road champion Jack Bobridge has been jailed for more than four years after being found guilty of dealing ecstasy in Perth.
The 29-year-old, who won two Olympic silver medals on the track, was convicted on four charges of supplying a total of 301 ecstasy pills to fellow former racer Alex McGregor between March and August 2017.
Perth’s District Court heard earlier this year that McGregor on-sold the pills to an undercover police officer who was targeting drug dealers in nightclubs and bars.
Bobridge denied the charges against him at the time, saying McGregor had supplied the pills to him, for Bobridge’s personal use. Bobridge’s lawyer Sam Vandongen told the court this week that Bobridge maintained his innocence but said that his client had suffered “a dramatic fall from grace” since retiring.
Prosecutor Joel Grinceri said that the “drug dealing enterprise” between Bobridge and McGregor, while still in its infancy, was “clearly intended to be an ongoing business and enterprise.”
“And but for the incompetency of Mr McGregor, being the street-level dealer, Mr Bobridge’s drug dealing business would have undoubtedly continued into the future,” Grinceri said.
Bobridge was this week sentenced to a total of four years and six months behind bars. He will be eligible for parole after serving two years and six months of his sentence. McGregor was given an 18-month partially suspended jail term in July 2018 — a sentence reduced by 40% given McGregor’s willingness to provide evidence against Bobridge.
Regarded as one of Australia’s most talented but inconsistent riders, Bobridge split his time between racing on the track and on the road. A former U23 world time trial champion, he won Australia’s national road title in 2011 and 2016, plus a stage of the Tour Down Under in 2015.
On the track he won silver medals at the 2012 London Olympics and 2016 Rio Olympics, both in the team pursuit. He also won gold in the individual and team pursuit at the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games.
Bobridge retired from cycling in late 2016, citing the effects of the rheumatoid arthritis he’d battled throughout his career.
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