A man who was found with 360.7g of methamphetamines and $12,450 in cash has been jailed for drug trafficking.
The drugs had a street value of up to $185,000 if sold in small amounts.
Steven Angeleski, 32, of Kialla, pleaded guilty in Shepparton County Court to two charges of trafficking a drug of dependence and one of trafficking a commercial quantity of drugs.
He also pleaded guilty to summary charges of dealing with the proceeds of crime, two charges of possessing a prohibited weapon, and failing to comply with a direction to assist police.
The court heard Angeleski came to police attention through his contact with the primary targets of an undercover police operation into drug trafficking in Greater Shepparton.
The prosecution told the court police found messages on another person’s phone of a conversation between Angeleski and the other person where the accused agreed to provide two different lots of methamphetamines to the other person.
One was for 28g of methamphetamines for $6200 in April 2022.
The second, the same month, was for 3.5g for $950.
The court was told that in August last year, an undercover police officer contacted a different person, who organised the sale of 7g of methamphetamines for $1600.
That person got the drugs from Angeleski’s house.
During a police search of Angeleski’s house in August last year, police found a safe containing 349.9g of methamphetamines and $11,800 in cash.
Police also found 10.6g of methamphetamines, at 88 per cent purity, in a zip-lock bag, $610 in cash and an extendable baton in the house.
The court heard the 360.7g of drugs found would be worth $85,000 as a bulk value but would have a street value of up to $185,000 if sold in smaller quantities.
The court also heard that 250g of methamphetamines was considered a commercial quantity.
When interviewed by police, Angeleski told them he had been using methamphetamines for the past couple of months and used 1g a day.
He initially told police he was “holding the safe for someone” and “had never seen inside it”, but when shown footage of him buying the safe from a business, he admitted the safe was his and the $11,000 was savings.
In sentencing, Judge Simon Moglia said Angeleski had not shown any remorse for the offending or shown he understood its impact on the community.
Judge Moglia referred to the drug trafficking as “greed” by Angeleski and said he did not accept that he was “just trafficking to support your own habit”.
“The scale was well above what might be accepted at street level,” he said.
“It was well over the commercial quantity.
“An important feature for sentencing of those who traffic drugs is to deter others.”
The judge noted Angeleski’s defence had spoken of a different court order that could see Angeleski lose his part in the home owned by him and his wife, but said he could not take that into account in his sentencing.
Angelski was sentenced to four years and five months in prison, with a non-parole period of two years and 11 months.
The 294 days spent in pre-sentence detention will be counted as time already served.