BIG LETTERBOX DOPE
Man had more than kilo of drugs mailed to his house
A YOUNG Armstrong Creek man is facing a lengthy jail term after he was caught with more than a kilo of drugs that had been mailed to his letterbox.
Former Deakin University student Jayson Bensch ordered the drugs online but was caught red-handed when detectives raided his Lodge Place home twice last December.
The 25-year-old was charged and bailed after the first raid netted 497g of ketamine, but officers uncovered even more drugs two days later as they kept watch on his rental property.
Crown prosecutor Andrew Moore told the Geelong County Court the second search resulted in 499g of MDMA being seized, alongside 14g of cocaine and $10,500 in cash.
Bensch — who has been in custody since mid-December — pleaded guilty yesterday to six charges, including two counts of drug trafficking.
The court heard police started investigating the labourer two months before the raids after authorities at Melbourne Airport intercepted a suspicious package that had arrived from Italy.
The package contained a stereo and was addressed to Bensch’s home, but officers also found 105g of ketamine stuffed inside.
Defence barrister Moya O’Brien said her client was a Bitcoin trader who embarked on the plan to deal drugs through opportunism and naivety.
“It was relatively unsophisticated in the sense that he has purchased them online and they were addressed to his property,” she said.
The court heard Bensch was battling a raging drug habit and had been using up to 3g of cocaine and 2g of ketamine each day at the time of his arrest.
Ms O’Brien said the gym junkie also had an “ongoing problem” with steroid use, while his addiction to illicit drugs led to an overdose on his 24th birthday.
But she said the seven months Bensch had already spent in custody had forced him to re-evaluate his life.
“Prison has had a profound and salient effect on this young man and it’s resulted in a real change of attitude,” Ms O’Brien said.
She pushed for Judge Gerard Mullaly to sentence Bensch to the time he has already served behind bars and to release him on a lengthy community corrections order.
Judge Mullaly ordered Bensch to be assessed for the order but said he had made “no promise to anyone” about the final sentence to be imposed.
He said the trafficking charges each carried maximum jail terms of 15 years and noted that Bensch stood to gain large profits from dealing the drugs.
“This is his business from top to bottom, it seems,” Judge Mullaly said.
“He’s the one trafficking the drugs from source to user — no one else.”
Bensch blew kisses to his family before being led from the courtroom by custody staff.
He will return to be sentenced on a later date.