A Yarrawonga woman who assisted in a black-market firearms deal to undercover police operatives has been spared jail time.

The 37-year-old appeared at Wangaratta Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday to receive her sentence following a plea to four charges in April this year.

The court previously heard as part of an extended covert police operation, operatives had set up a deal of obtaining four stolen firearms, allegedly from a 37-year-old Yarrawonga man, via an encrypted messaging app sometime between February and April 2025.

At the deal the male accused was assisted by the woman, who received $10,000 from one of the covert operatives purchasing the weapons.

In a police interview following her arrest, the woman told officers she had given the money to her co-accused.

In court in April, defence counsel Laurence Waugh said his client was instead incentivised during the offending with drugs rather than money and she was heavily drug affected at the time.

Prosecution applied to have the matter heard in a higher court and argued for a prison sentence.

The woman had been serving a separate 18-month community corrections order for assisting in drug trafficking in Bundalong in 2024.

Magistrate Ian Watkins said he came “perilously close” to sending her to jail, but instead placed her on a new 18-month community corrections order which will include 200 hours of unpaid community work, supervision and treatment for drug addiction.

“I think you fully appreciate the seriousness of this offending,” he said.

“You were mixing with some nasty people, but you’ve got to accept some responsibility.

"You mix with bad people and bad things happen.”

The woman will return to Wangaratta Magistrates’ Court in August for judicial monitoring.

Her co-accused faces more serious charges of commercial trafficking of guns and drugs.

He was released from custody in January 2026 to attend a rehabilitation centre in Shepparton and is scheduled to appear at Wangaratta Magistrates’ Court on 4 June for committal mention.