A Yarrawonga woman is fighting to stay out of prison after admitting to her involvement in a $10,000 black-market firearm deal orchestrated by undercover police.

The 37-year-old Yarrawonga woman appeared at Wangaratta Magistrates’ Court on Friday pleading guilty to four charges involving the trafficking of stolen firearms.

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

At the deal sometime between February and April 2025, the accused man was assisted by the woman in exchanging the firearms to the undercover police for $10,000.

The woman received the $10,000 from one of the covert operatives.

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

Defence counsel Laurence Waugh said his client was incentivised during the offending with drugs rather than money.

Mr Waugh said the 37-year-old woman was heavily drug affected at the time and due to good behaviour since the offending, vouched for a non-custodial sentence.

The woman has been serving an 18-month community corrections order for assisting in drug trafficking in Bundalong in 2024.

Prior to pleading guilty, prosecutor Andrew McCowan contested a summary jurisdiction application to hear the matter in a higher court and wanted a jail term for the accused.

Magistrate Ian Watkins deemed the matter suitable to be heard in the lower court and adjourned his sentence until 20 May, with the woman to undergo a community corrections order assessment.

“Dealing with firearms in this community is a matter of grave concern,” he said.

“It seems to me they are matters dealt with regularly in this court and it is in the public’s interest to have this matter dealt with sooner rather than later.”

The court heard the 37-year-old Yarrawonga man was facing 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.

The man was scheduled to return to court for committal mention on 4 June at Wangaratta.