A TOPLESS model was the mastermind behind a drugs empire in Australia that distributed steroids and testosterone.
Nateesha Barlin, 23, along with her gym-loving boyfriend Dylan Shaw, 24, ran a criminal organisation that supplied steroids, testosterone and human growth hormones.
Barlin is said to have boasted she was supplying “the whole Central Coast,” a region in Australia northwest of Sydney, according the New York Post.
But their drug dealing came to an end when the Australia Border Force (ABF) raided the apartment they rented on November 7, 2016.
Barlin pleaded guilty to one count each of importing testosterone and the deemed supply of anabolic steroids, while Shaw pleaded guilty to three charges including importing human growth hormone, anabolic steroids and the deemed supply of steroids.
When the couple appeared for sentencing in Gosford District Court on Thursday, they revealed just how easy it was for them to set up their steroid trade, where they expected to be “getting big lumps of money at a time.”
The pair were ordering steroids and human growth hormone from China and the Philippines and getting it shipped through the mail to the name of a relative at their apartment and to their parents’ addresses, mislabelled as things like “cleaner” and “a gas flow valve and housing.”
In court, Barlin’s lawyer said she had been subjected to ridicule after reporting of the matter and had lost her job as a veterinary nurse as a result.
He added that she had a difficult childhood after her parents’ separation and was bullied for being the “ugly duckling,” driving her to find solace in “gym culture,” which “introduced her to steroids.”
He dismissed a text she sent claiming to “supply the whole Central Coast” as the boasting of a young person who “made statements to make her seem popular.”
She was also “not aware of how serious the offenses were,” he said.
Barlin and Shaw could avoid jail time after a judge ordered them to undergo psychiatric evaluation with a view to serving their sentence in the community.
