A drug dealer who forced a customer to withdraw cash to settle a debt freely told police he had sold her ice and wanted his money.
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The Wangaratta Magistrates Court recently heard Mathew Fitzgerald was lucky not to be facing extortion type charges over the incident.
The court heard allegations against Fitzgerald had resolved and he will return to court later this month.
The Yarrawonga man told police the victim had stolen drugs from him and she owed him $700.
He tried to settle the debt through one of her friends.
"She is for the moment OK, as I said I'm a good guy, but unless you help her out and give her money, I can't promise she'll be that way for long," he told her friend.
The victim and others had gone to his Yarrawonga home on January 31 last year to use ice.
Fitzgerald later took the victim's phone to text her friend saying she "tried running off with bag of shard" and needed a favour to get cash.
Money was later transferred and Fitzgerald withdrew $850 in two transactions from a Yarrawonga ATM.
He also took the victim's sim card and she reported the incident to police.
Fitzgerald was arrested on May 4.
"His indication was that she owed him money for the drugs," police told the court.
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"He does make admissions to buying and selling drugs to her, and making a profit of $150 out of that."
Fitzgerald also came to police attention on August 11 last year, again for drug-related offending.
Officers spotted a vehicle at a Yarrawonga service station and when the car was intercepted, he appeared to be "jittery".
The Yarrawonga man kept his left hand down behind the driver's seat and police searched the vehicle.
They found $750 cash, two containers with bags of meth weighing 9.64 grams, a loaded syringe, multiple ice pipes, scales, deal bags and cannabis.
Fitzgerald was already banned from the roads due to drug-driving.
He was arrested and police began to question him, but had to suspend the interview as he was too stoned.
His lawyer, Stacey Stanley, said he had been using two grams of meth each day and raised questions about whether the ice was for dealing.
The deemed traffickable quantity of the drug is three grams, with magistrate Peter Dunn noting Fitzgerald had more than three times that amount along with scales, cash and deal bags.
The case returns on January 28 and Fitzgerald remains banned from Yarrawonga.