The former head of a Port Stephens rehab centre wrote glowing letters about three clients, including disgraced media personality Andrew O'Keefe, which left out details of their failed drug tests.
Ross Retini Pene, now 72, pleaded guilty in Newcastle Local Court this week to three counts of tampering with evidence with the intent to mislead a judicial tribunal between 2020 and 2024.
Pene was the owner and director of private residential drug and alcohol rehabilitation facility Connect Global at Swan Bay, which wound up last year after separate controversies.
Services cost $35,000 upfront, and up to $700 a fortnight, with up to 30 clients staying in holiday cabins on-site, and programs usually running for six to 12 months.
O'Keefe was charged with a number of offences in 2022, and was released on bail to live at Connect Global after almost four months behind bars. He was ordered not to consume alcohol or illicit drugs.
But in August 2022, two routine urine tests came back positive for methylamphetamine, court documents show.
Pene knew about the results but signed off anyway on a six-page letter, knowing it would be used in O'Keefe's criminal proceedings, falsely stating all tests had been clean.
The letter said O'Keefe had "displayed a strong mindset to never revert to his old ways" and that he had learnt "how to move on in life" without substances.
The letter was tendered when O'Keefe was sentenced in January 2024.
Pene again tampered with evidence when Khaled Kanj was bailed to Connect Global in 2023 while accused of attempting to possess a commercial quantity of ketamine.
He sent a letter saying that all urine tests had been negative, despite an indication of cocaine use in 2024. The letter was again tendered in court.
In 2024, Pene wrote a seven-page letter for former high-level rugby player and elite boarding school graduate Jake Prindiville, who was bailed to Connect Global while facing drug charges.
Pene knew one of Prindiville's urine tests had detected diazepam, but wrote that all the tests had returned negative.
Police investigating under Strike Force Toopuntul raided John Hunter Hospital in August 2024, where they obtained the urinalysis results.
They then executed a warrant at Connect Global two months later. Raptor North police arrested Pene at Connect Global in May 2025.
His guilty pleas came as prosecutors dropped six counts of intending to pervert the course of justice.
Pene will face Raymond Terrace Local Court next month.
