Text leads to arrest (From Gazette Series)

Text leads to arrest

TECHNOLOGY helped catch a cannabis dealer from Dursley who sent text messages detailing prices and quantities of the drug.

Adam Dungworth, of Tilsdown, also discussed how much he would sell the Class C drug for on internet chatrooms, Gloucester Crown Court heard last Friday.

Dungworth, 19, had pleaded guilty to possessing and supplying the drug between December 30 2003 and October 2005, and had been committed by magistrates to the crown court for sentencing.

Prosecutor Mary Harley said that the incriminating information had been retrieved by police when they raided his home on September 28 last year.

"Text messages on two phones revealed that he had been discussing prices, quantities, and the availability of cannabis," she told the court.

His computer was also searched and his internet history showed that he had been visiting chatrooms to talk about his criminal activity.

Ms Harley said that Dungworth was a man of good character and that it had been another man, higher up the drugs chain, who was the mastermind behind the operation.

Simon Goodman, defending, asked the judge to bear in mind that this other dealer had escaped jail, and reminded the court that fairness should be shown to his client who was a "smaller fish".

Dungworth had a steady job at a hotel in Gloucester and was principally dealing to fund his own use, Goodman told the court.

Recorder Ben Browne ordered Dungworth to carry out 150 hours of unpaid community work.

"I have received two glowing references from employers," the recorder told him. "You have good in you - don't get involved in drugs again."