Teen faces jail over part in drug dealing

JON MACPHERSON

ATEENAGER has been warned he could be facing jail over his part in a crack cocaine and heroin street dealing operation.

Cameron Johnson, 19, bagged up the drugs and kept checklists while living at a house on College Street in Accrington, a court heard.

Officers accidentally stumbled across the drugs and paraphernalia when they attended the property ‘in relation to completely separate matter’ in January 2016.

Accrington and Rossendale College student Johnson, now of Nuttall Street, Accrington, pleaded guilty at Burnley Crown Court to possessing crack cocaine and heroin with intent to supply.

Alison Mather, prosecuting, said police were looking for two other men in connection with an assault when they attended Johnson’s former home.

In his bedroom they found more than 30 wraps of brown and white powder, a bag of yellow rocks, two grinders in a metal tin, £270 cash, a mobile phone and ‘ paper with calculations on them’.

Miss Mather said the total value of the drugs was £545.

Simon Mintz, defending, said the motoring mechanics student pleaded guilty on the basis that he was working ‘under instructions’ and that he only held on to the drugs, bagged them up and kept checklists.

Giving evidence at a trial of issue hearing, Johnson told the court that he had been ‘sofa surfing’ and was offered a place to stay.

Johnson said he was soon unable to pay the rent and ‘ not very nice people started making threats’ towards him.

The court was told that when he returned home from college he answered phones, wrote down information and started bagging up and weighing out the drugs.

Johnson said he had ‘no idea of the scale of the operation’. Mr Mintz told the court: “He doesn’t look like someone who could play a significant role in anything. He was 18.

“There’s an element of pressure here.”

Judge Beverley Lunt adjourned sentence until March 20 so a pre-sentence report could be prepared.

She said: “I don’t think he had any concept of how seriously he was getting involved.

“He thought of this as being the lesser of two evils and became enmeshed. “He could’ve left. “I can’t see it being anything other than a prison sentence, but I want to know more about you.”