'I felt like a fraud': Inside 'double life' of a steroid kingpin turned drug manufacturer

Photo: Supplied

Nearly 10 years after he made headlines when he was jailed for running a large national steroid ring, Joshua Townshend has been sentenced to home detention this time for his part in a drug manufacturing ring and laundering nearly $700,000. National Crime Correspondent Sam Sherwood reports.

Joshua Townshend was in bed when he heard something like the burst of a siren coming from outside his newly-built Governor's Bay home followed by a heavy knock on the door.

It was December 20, 2022.

Townshend walked to the front door, opened it and saw a "flurry of police activity".

"I was just speechless for a long period of time, and I should have seen it coming…"

The raid signalled the end of Townshend's criminal enterprise that involved importing and manufacturing drugs. An enterprise he'd thought about while in prison serving a sentence for his role as the kingpin of a steroid ring that spanned the country.

More than three years on Townshend, and two of his co-defendants, were sentenced in the Christchurch District Court. Townshend earlier pleaded guilty to representative charges of importing a Class C controlled drug analogue, manufacturing a Class C controlled drug, money laundering. The 39-year-old also admitted charges of possessing a Class A controlled drug (LSD), and possessing a Class B controlled drug (ecstasy).

Before he was sentenced to 12 months home detention he spoke to RNZ about his latest criminal offending, how it unravelled, and how his "dishonesty and deceit" filtered into every aspect of his life.

The steroid ring

In May 2017, Townshend was sentenced to two years imprisonment after pleading guilty to 129 charges under the Medicines Act and two charges of driving while disqualified.

Court documents say Townshend operated a "large national steroid ring" importing raw ingredients and manufacturing products for use as performance and image enhancers. He then sold the drugs through a website and a Facebook page.

"The business was lucrative, recording annual sales of around $350,000 with typical profit margins for this type of enterprise of 2000-5000%."

Townshend had been warned by Medsafe of the illegality of his business, in March 2013 and April 2014. In February 2014 he pleaded guilty to two earlier charges of importing Class C drugs and was sentenced to nine months home detention and 200 hours community work. He committed part of his offending while on the sentence.

Townshend later appealed his sentence in the High Court at Christchurch. Justice Gendall dismissed his appeal and said the "scale and persistency" of Townshend's offending must be recognised.

"Mr Townshend ran his illegal steroid business as a very large scale and lucrative operation and, in particular, for a substantial period of time while he was subject to an earlier sentence of home detention for illegally importing Class C controlled drugs.

"Mr Townshend's conduct involved a high degree of pre-meditation.