Dealer gave drug line number to authorities
Northumbria PoliceA drug dealer was caught after using his county lines phone number as his contact for various authorities, a court heard.
Owen Caris, 24, sent thousands of messages to arrange cocaine and cannabis sales between March and August last year, Newcastle Crown Court heard.
After he was arrested, police found his £12,460 gold necklace and ring would have cost "well in excess" of his state benefits and were "attributable to criminal activity".
Caris, from Ryton in Gateshead, was jailed for two years and eight months after he admitted being concerned in the supply of class A and B drugs.
Caris was part of a county lines operation and his phone sent out 10,221 bulk text messages advertising drugs over a 22-week period last year, prosecutor Kevin Wardlaw said.
Police were able to link the phone number to Caris as he had provided it to Gateshead Council and the Department for Work and Pensions to contact him on, the court heard.
The value of the drugs line could have been up to £131,000 over the period the messages were sent, the court heard.
At his home, officers found a £750 phone, £1,000 watch and nine-carat gold necklace and ring worth up to £12,490, the court heard.
"Given the fact the defendant was on state benefits, the purchases were well in excess of his benefits and are attributable to criminal activity," Wardlaw said.
In mitigation, Rachel Hedworth said Caris had a traumatic childhood and was the victim of a random stabbing in Newcastle three years ago in which he suffered a fractured skull.
The father-of-two had been a forklift driver but was unable to work after being injured, the court heard, and while he used cocaine and cannabis in the past, he no longer did.
The court heard Caris was introduced to drug dealing as a young teenager and was paid £200 a day and offered protection by the county lines gang, which he claimed to have worked for for six months before his arrest.
