‘Prolific’ Ravensthorpe drug dealer spared lengthy prison term after police discover meth sales exploits

A Ravensthorpe man described as a “prolific street-level” drug dealer has been put behind bars after being found with methylamphetamine he intended to sell, and unlawfully obtained cash. Allan Thomas Waddell was filling up his Holden Colorado utility at Ravensthorpe service station about 11.12am on September 7, 2023, when police approached him. Police asked him to empty his pockets, taking his mobile phone and the keys to his vehicle, before conducting an oral fluid test, which revealed the presence of meth. Despite initially not consenting to a search of his car and denying any recent drug use, Waddell directed police to a 26.9g bag of cannabis in the glovebox — after police told him they could smell the drug — and a glasses case containing six bags of meth, totalling 9.21g at 77 per cent purity, alongside empty clipseal bags and a plastic straw. Five of the six bags in the glasses case were intended for immediate sale, according to the prosecution. In a backpack on the backseat of the car were smoking implements, more empty clipseal bags, two bags of meth containing a collective 0.16g believed to be for Waddell’s personal use and a set of electronic scales. A wallet found in the vehicle’s centre console contained $520 in cash believed to be the profits of drug sales. After refusing to give police his phone pin code at the Ravensthorpe police station that day, police issued a data access order to Waddell on October 27, 2023, ordering him to provide the passcode to his phone, which he again refused. An investigation into his bank records revealed that, of the $113,730.02 deposited into his account between June 28, 2023, and August 28, 2023, $68,000 of this was obtained through the sale of meth. The 36-year-old was charged with possessing methylamphetamine with intent to sell or supply to another, possessing a sum of money reasonably suspected to have unlawfully obtained, and failing to obey a data access order. He pleaded guilty to all three charges on October 7, 2025, two days before his trial was set to commence. In her sentencing remarks in Perth District Court on November 7, Judge Carmel Barbagallo noted that Waddell had “exposed (himself) to a very significant penalty”, given that the maximum penalty for possession of meth with intent to sell or supply is 25 years imprisonment or a $100,00 fine. She said despite him not being charged for possessing the large amount of money believed to have been deposited into his bank account via meth sales in a two-month period, the bank records indicated the extent of his drug-dealing. “This puts your offending into context,” she said. “And I accept your counsel’s submission that you are a street-level dealer, but in my view, you clearly are a prolific street-level dealer. “It seems clear to me that you refused to provide your PIN code of your phone to the police to prevent them from seeing the extent of your drug-dealing activities. I consider that to be a very serious matter.” A recently relapsed meth-user himself, Waddell’s sentencing needed to reflect the destructive nature of the drug he had been dealing, according to Judge Barbagallo. “Your involvement in the distribution of methylamphetamine, particularly in a small, country community, has contributed to the scourge that that drug of addiction has ravaged in and on our community,” she said. “Methylamphetamine is truly an insidious drug, and you are, indeed, a part of that problem.” She sentenced him to one year and 10 months imprisonment, backdated to July 8, 2025 and made him eligible for parole.