A man who was given $10,000 in suspected drug money and used it to buy a car has been ordered to complete a corrections order after spending more than three weeks in custody.
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Benjamin Pigram, the Wodonga Magistrates Court recently heard, should have known better than to take the cash.
He used the money from alleged dealer Cheyne Orcher to buy a white Holden SS Commodore in Wodonga on August 14.
Pigram put the vehicle in his name, allegedly on behalf of the dealer, and drove off without testing the car.
He was involved in a string of bizarre incidents the following morning.
Pigram drove a different Commodore purchased by Orcher while heavily affected by ice and ecstasy.
The vehicle became bogged at Baranduda, near the primary school, and he got out and walked around.
He rang the doorbell at a Westmont retirement village home at 4.40am and told the elderly resident a vehicle had gone through the man's fence.
Pigram walked over to the primary school and stole a bike, which he rode around.
He followed staff at Westmont at 7.45am and was seen looking through windows in an enclosed area before claiming to be a security guard.
He was arrested by police about 10 minutes later and found with three ecstasy pills and a key to the Commodore, and was charged with dealing with property suspected of being the proceeds of crime over the cash.
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Pigram made partial admissions to his offending and said he was smoking up to $500 of meth a day.
"He just needs to keep off the drugs your honour," lawyer Vaccaro told magistrate Ian Watkins.
He served 24 days in custody and must complete the corrections order over 12 months.
The court heard he was keen to get his life back on track and conceded that hanging out with Orcher wasn't a wise move.
Orcher, who is accused of ramming a police car in Melbourne last month and hitting another police vehicle as Wodonga officers tried to arrest him, also faced court recently and will return on October 13.