Louth childcare worker (33) given two-year sentence assisting organised crime group

By Francis Carroll, The Drogheda Independent

A 33-year-old childcare worker who admitted her involvement in assisting organised crime has been jailed for two years.

Michaela Fitzpatrick, who has no previous convictions, pleaded guilty to, on January 24, 2024, participating in/facilitating organised crime and possession of drugs with a value in excess of €13,000 for sale or supply.

Further charges, including money laundering and other drugs offences were taken into consideration.

The defendant was apprehended when gardaí intercepted a suspicious package and set up a controlled delivery to her Drogheda address of what turned out to be 2kgs of cannabis valued almost €40,000.

She said to officers after her arrest, “You do what you have to do to survive.”

A previous sentence hearing at Dundalk Circuit Court was told that Ms Fitzpatrick was “funnelling money” to a family member.

Evidence was given that she took a box from an undercover Garda detective at her Rathmullen Park address. It contained 1,998.8g of cannabis valued €39,976.

Investigators saw a voice note she sent, reading, “That’s here. What will I do with it now?”

As part of an ongoing investigation three bank accounts belonging to the accused were identified.

Between dates in October 2023 and the following January, €42,850 was placed into the accounts and €36,200 taken out, “predominantly in Thailand”.

The money was forwarded to a Revolut account that Gardaí were satisfied was controlled by an Organised Crime Group.

In a series of interviews Ms Fitzpatrick made no admissions. Her excuse that she didn’t know what was in the box was not accepted by Gardaí. Neither was her claim that she was not involved in organised crime.

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She told them, “You do what you have to do to survive"; and that she had a brain injury which affected her memory.

Judge Dara Hayes said that the defendant had co-operated to a degree and had not come to garda attention since.

The court was told that she had diabetes and a brain injury. The mother of a seven-year-old daughter she had lost another child in infancy.

The judge continued she was involved in serious criminality “at the behest of overbearing family members”.

An aggravating factor was the assistance her offending gave to serious criminality.

The court noted Ms Fitzpatrick’s early plea, her previous clean record, and that she had a young child and significant medical issues.

A three-and-a-half year sentence was imposed, the final 18 months suspended, and backdated to October 30, 2025. when she went into custody.

A destruction order was made for the drugs.