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A Perth lawyer will spend at least the next two years in prison after he was caught exchanging thousands of messages with bikies including former Comanchero boss Ray Cilli, giving the gang member information about police investigations to help him dodge jail.
Ted Dobson, 32, the son of prominent Perth lawyer Terry Dobson, represented Cilli and other Comanchero members in court appearances as a junior lawyer with his father’s firm.
That employment included representing Cilli after he was accused of murdering Alf Eades in prison in 2019 just a few months after Dobson qualified as a lawyer.
Cilli’s charge was spectacularly dropped before it ever went to trial which led Dobson to become “caught up in the excitement of that success”, his lawyer Christian Porter told Perth District Court judge David MacLean during his sentencing on Friday.
This led to what was described as “an intense” friendship between Dobson and Cilli that went beyond just providing legal advice.
“He was communicating with high-level Comanchero members about police operations and how they operate,” state prosecutor Steven Whybrow said on Friday.
“In one message, Dobson is asking Cilli, ‘anything we need to keep our eyes and ears out for in particular?’ … in another he said ‘you have our full support and loyalty as long as you stay loyal’.”
In June 2021 Dobson’s home was raided by police as part of a massive combined operation between the FBI and the Australian Federal Police. They were investigating organised crime networks by secretly controlling an encrypted communications platform used by criminals called AN0M.
The AFP and the FBI were watching the messages that Dobson was sending Cilli and other gang members. He was later charged with – and pleaded guilty to – two counts of failing to comply with an order and one count of attempting to pervert justice.
The court heard Dobson was raised by his father after his mother passed away when he was four years old, leading to an “enmeshed and codependent” relationship with his father which influenced his decision to engage in the offending that he did.
He was sentenced to four years and four months in prison but could be out in half that time on parole.
AFP detective superintendent Peter Chwal said Operation Ironside delivered a significant blow to transnational serious organised crime groups, based in Australia and offshore.
“The success of Operation Ironside is a testament to the strength and commitment of our partnerships with the FBI and other domestic and international law enforcement agencies, collaborating to combat complex organised crime networks operating across multiple countries,” he said.
So far, Operation Ironside has led to almost 400 people in Australia being charged with more than 2300 offences, including drug trafficking, money laundering and dealing in the proceeds of crime.
Of those persons dealt with by the courts more than 60 have been sentenced.
They include a West Australian man who was sentenced to five years for possessing $6.1 million in cash, believed to be the proceeds of crime.
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