The man named as the head of Wagga’s Finks Outlaw Motorcycle Gang has pleaded guilty to 14 criminal charges before a Wagga magistrate.
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Peter Yealland, also know as Peter Hooper, appeared in Wagga’s Local Court on Wednesday morning via video link from the Long Bay Correctional Complex.
During his brief court appearance, Yealland pleaded guilty to a total of eight separate counts of supplying a prohibited drug.
Two of Yealland’s supply convictions concerned a “commercial quantity” of prohibited drugs, which is considered the second most serious bracket of offending in terms of supply.
Yealland also pleaded guilty to five counts relating to firearms offences; two counts of possessing an unauthorised pistol, one count of possessing ammunition without a licence, one count of acquiring a pistol against a firearms order, and one count of not keeping a firearm stored safely.
He also pleaded guilty to one count of knowingly dealing with proceeds of crime.
Four alternative charges against Yealland were then withdrawn by the prosecution after he entered his pleas of guilty.
This was the second time Yealland fronted a Wagga courtroom in just over one week, also appearing before the court on drug supply charges last Monday.
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Those charges related to Yealland supplying a large commercial quantity of prohibited drugs – namely, ice – between July 9, 2016, and November 3 of the same year.
The bikie boss, who, as the president of the gang’s Wagga chapter, was one of the most senior Finks in NSW, was originally arrested in December, 2016 in a large-scale police raid that brought down a number of alleged bikies and their associates.
In an operation dubbed Strike Force Tandine, police reported that they seized all manner of prohibited items including machetes, steroids, cannabis, cash, and several stolen vehicles during the series of raids targeting the Finks.
At the time, officers from the Riverina Police District described the operation as “a victory in the city’s drug supply crisis”.
Since then, Yealland has been prosecuted for numerous offences while being held in custody at Long Bay.
The severity of Yealland’s crimes means his case will now need to be advanced to Wagga’s District Court for sentencing.
Yealland will appear before the District Court on July 13, when a final sentencing date will be handed down.
