Dealer who stashed drugs at Leeds neighbour's avoids jail
Police raided two homes next-door-but-one to each other
A dealer who stashed drugs at his neighbour’s house has avoided custody.
Kian Scott and his next-door-but-one neighbour, Wendy Viera, were both involved in supplying cannabis in Rothwell.
Phone messages later incriminated a third person, Richard Marshall.
Viera and Marshall were dealt with at Leeds Crown Court last month.
Warrants were executed at the two addresses on Orchard Way in Rothwell in July 2021.
In one address occupied by 24-year-old Scott, they found more than three ounces of the drug and sweets laced with cannabis. More than £2,500 cash was also recovered.
Raiding 44-year-old Viera’s property two doors along, they found packed cannabis worth £1,390. Separated into two packs, they were found to contain Scott’s fingerprints.
A recovered phone found messages involving drug supply with 27-year-old Marshall, of Pleasant Terrace, Holbeck.
He was later arrested and another phone seized showed he had been involved in selling cannabis for around nine months.
Prosecutor Adam Walker said it had been Scott’s drug operation.
All three either gave no-comment interviews to police or denied involvement.
Scott, who lived with his mother, admitted dealing in cannabis. He has a previous offences on his record for possession of cannabis.
A probation report into Scott, who is unemployed, found he had been smoking cannabis for 11 years.
Mitigating, Nick Cartmell said it had taken five years to bring the case to court, despite Scott pleading guilty at an early stage.
He said his cannabis intake had intensified during Covid lockdown.
The judge, Recorder Abdul Iqbal KC told Scott: “It was plainly your operation.”
He handed him a 20-month sentence, suspended for 18 months, citing the lapse in time since the raid for his decision.
Scott was also told to complete 200 hours of unpaid work and 15 rehabilitation days with probation.
In May, Viera was handed a 12-month community order with 10 rehabilitation days after admitting dealing in cannabis.
A probation report into mother-of-four Viera suggested she accepted being “stupid” by doing a “favour” for her friend Scott by simply stashing the drugs at her home.
Marshall had admitted being concerned in the supply of Class B drugs.
He was given a 12-month jail sentence, suspended for 12 months and ordered to undertake 15 days of rehabilitation.