A heroin dealer whose Wodonga home was raided by police, with drugs and $11,500 in cash found, says he was selling on behalf of his housemate to fuel his habit.
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Stephen Richard Gruber was jailed in Wodonga court on Tuesday, February 6, for his third drug trafficking offence.
The 55-year-old was found with 33 prescription pills and 22 grams of marijuana at his Moonya Drive house on April 13 last year.
A backpack in his housemate's room had $11,500 in cash and items used to cultivate cannabis were found in a rear room.
No heroin was found, but checks of Gruber's phone showed he had been selling the drug between April 22, 2022, and the date of his arrest.
The Wodonga court heard details of some of the messages between Gruber and others, with a person called "Triple J" asking for "two deals", photographs of money and cash transfers exchanged, and an image of heroin on scales being sent.
Other messages stated he had pure heroin with prices discussed.
The court heard Gruber was a user and had received heroin from his housemate and had grown marijuana at the house.
He said he had been facilitating heroin deals on behalf of his housemate, who picked the drugs up from Melbourne, and said he was the middle man.
The co-accused has a matter listed in court later this month.
Chirag Patel said the other resident of the home was "rather more involved and higher up the food chain.
"It was mostly on the basis of social supply to friends and associates," Mr Patel said of Gruber's role.
"He's had a heroin addiction for some 20 years."
Gruber works as a cleaner at an abattoir with the court told he had two priors for drug supply, including heroin.
Mr Patel asked his client not be jailed.
"He is someone who can be monitored in the community, he is someone who can comply with an order," Mr Patel said.
But magistrate Peter Mithen said the community would not accept such a sentence.
"It's not lost on me that this is the third time there has been a trafficking offence," he said.
"I just don't believe the community would accept the third time round that a trafficking charge warrants that a corrections order itself is enough of a punishment."
Mr Mithen jailed Gruber for two months and ordered he complete a 12-month corrections order after his release.
Gruber, who was supported by his daughter in court, did not react as he was led away to start his sentence.
