Ex-Penthouse Pet jailed for ice racket

A former Penthouse Pet has been jailed for playing a major role in an ice smuggling racket.

A police station sign

Six teenagers have been charged over a series of violent home invasions across Melbourne. (AAP) Source: AAP

A former Penthouse Pet has been sentenced to a minimum six-and-half years in jail for helping smuggle the drug "ice" into Australia concealed in bath products.

A Sydney District Court judge found Simone Farrow, 41, played a principal role in helping to smuggle 740g of pure methamphetamine in packages from the US over a seven-and-a-half-month period before her arrest in October 2009.

The drugs were concealed in bath salts and similar products, the court heard.

Judge David Arnott said Farrow derived substantial income for her role, which involved communicating with customers, creating invoices for consignments and devising false names and addresses.

When arrested she had $45,000 in two NAB accounts and US$93,000 in a Citibank account, the court heard.

Farrow, the judge said, used her proceeds from the smuggling racket to fund an extravagant lifestyle.

"Whilst I'm not able to find that she was the principal behind the criminal enterprise, I find she played a principal role," he said.

"She played an essential and important role in a significant (criminal) enterprise using her image as a model for a cover."

Since her arrest seven years ago, Farrow has skipped bail twice and spent four years behind bars on remand.

She pleaded guilty to importing a marketable quantity of a border controlled drug on September 13, 2013.

Judge Arnott took into account her sad childhood, which included sexual abuse at the hands of a stepfather, and her mother introducing her to prostitution at 17.

With time served, Farrow will be eligible for parole in February 2019.


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Source: AAP



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