A MAN has been ordered to pay back almost £5,000 of profit he made from dealing cannabis and MDMA.
Rodolfo Gomes Ramos was sentenced to 480 hours’ community service for the possession and supply of the drugs in December, according to a recent judgment.
Ramos pleaded guilty to two counts of possessing a controlled drug and two counts of being concerned in the supply of a controlled drug, after police found over 50g of cannabis and five MDMA pills during a search of his home in January 2022.
During the search, the States police also seized more than £1,200 in cash, a set of digital scales and a paper ‘deal list’.
At a confiscation hearing in the Royal Court, Ramos was ordered to pay £4,744, after it was found that he had made almost £5,000 profit from his crimes. He was given two months to pay.
Despite saying that the drugs were for his own personal use, Ramos’ mobile phone was found to contain several messages relating to the supply of drugs.
And when questioned about the translated messages on his phone, Ramos admitted that he had supplied some friends with ‘Panama’ MDMA tablets – a particularly strong version of the Class A drug – when he was getting some tablets for himself but stated that he did not make any profit from this.
DS James McGranahan, an expert in drug-trafficking matters, said that the cannabis seized would have had a street value up to £1,630 while the MDMA seized would have had a street value of up to £150.
DS McGranahan also concluded that Ramos was owed more than £14,000 from various individuals.
A further £6,399 is contained in the deal list but this could not be attributed to any specific individuals.
Ramos explained that he would lend cash to people, including friends of friends, with the expectation that they would then pay him back. He stated that the ‘deal list’ was simply a list of people who owed him money and to whom he owed over the past two years.
Pleading guilty in September 2022, Ramos stated that he had supplied between one and four grams of cannabis to up to two friends but maintained that he did not make any money from it.
He also admitted supplying up to three tablets of MDMA to one friend but said that he did not profit from this supply either.
Delivering the Royal Court’s sentence, the Bailiff, Sir Timothy Le Cocq, told Ramos that he was ‘incredibly fortunate’ to be receiving community service.
Sir Timothy emphasised that the court’s deviation from its usual policy of sentencing drug dealers to a custodial sentence was ‘not a unanimous decision, which shows how close you have come to going into prison at this time’.
However, he concluded that the ‘very strong recommendation’ of a non-custodial disposal in the pre-sentencing report, Ramos’ ‘generally good character’, including ‘strong work ethic’ and ‘expression of remorse’ and his guilty plea amounted to ‘exceptional circumstances’.
