Solo father sentenced to prison for role in Tribesmen MC meth-dealing operation

A friend in the Tribesmen MC gang got Trent Michael Francis Ilton involved in the gang’s methamphetamine dealing and he ended up being found with up to $3 million worth of the drug. Photo / NZME

A friend in the Tribesmen MC gang got Trent Michael Francis Ilton involved in the gang’s methamphetamine dealing and he ended up being found with up to $3 million worth of the drug.

Ilton, described as a 33-year-old solo father who needed someone to support him, was assessed by a Christchurch High Court judge as having a “crucial role” in the logistics of the gang’s operation.

He had been motivated by financial gain, said Justice Rob Osborne. “You were well aware of the commerciality of the operation given the significant sums of money you counted for transportation,” he said.

Ilton had pleaded guilty to possessing methamphetamine for supply, breaching level-three Covid lockdown rules by associating with a co-offender arrested at his house, and failing to assist the police with a search by refusing to supply access to his cellphone.

Justice Osborne said the support Ilton had received from a gang member would explain his feelings of indebtedness.

He jailed Ilton for a total of seven years and three months and discharged him without penalty on the Covid charge. The sentence was reduced because of his guilty pleas, but Justice Osborne said he could find no indication of significant remorse or efforts towards rehabilitation.

In the pre-sentence reports, Ilton had denied he knew he had drugs in his possesion.

Canterbury police were investigating the Tribesmen MC gang’s drug-dealing among members and associates from October 2019. They found that the group was buying methamphetamine in Auckland and transporting it to South Island dealers.

When the police raided Ilton’s Bryndwr property on May 4, 2020, they found a cardboard box with three vacuum-sealed bags containing about 3kg of methamphetamine.

Police said Ilton was made travel bookings, stored cash and gear, and counted money, which was in bundles of $10,000, and sometimes amounted to more than $100,000. He also transported money.

The defence described him as being only “a cog in the wheel” of the Tribesmen gang’s massive methamphetamine transport and distribution operation.

Defence counsel Anselm Williams said Ilton ”needed people to support him, and one of the people who supported him ended up taking advantage of him”.

Crown prosecutor Chris White said Ilton had a significant part in the Tribesmen gang’s drugs operation, with the crucial role in the logistical side. He had a full understanding of the scale of the operation and received a financial gain – $38,834 was found in the police raid – but it was “not equivalent to the level of risk he was taking”.

Williams said Ilton was “naive and vulnerable” at the time and had been taken advantage of because of a friend who was a senior member of the Tribesmen gang. His house was being used for some of the group’s activities, and Ilton’s car was used to transport drugs.

Ilton had been “reckless” about what was going on. His role amounted to sometimes counting cash and being paid for that. Ilton accepted that the $6000 found in his bedroom was his, but the other cash found at his house did not belong to him.