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A cannabis and MDMA dealer who narrowly avoided a prison sentence has been ordered to pay back the nearly £5,000 profit he made from his crimes.
Rodolfo Gomes Ramos was sentenced to sentenced to 480 hours community service for the possession and supply of MDMA and cannabis in December.
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, police also seized over £1,200 in cash, a set of digital scales, and a paper 'deal list'.
Ramos confirmed that all drugs found in the property were for his own personal use. He explained that he regularly smoked cannabis for his back pain and would have one or two joints a day, buying up to 60g of cannabis at a time, while he would sometimes take half or a whole tablet of MDMA while socialising.
Pictured: Ramos was sentenced in the Royal Court in January.
Ramos also said that the cash found was for emergencies and savings, and said that the list related to his working hours, games, and lending people money but was not to do with drugs.
However, Ramos' mobile phone was found to contain several messages relating to the supply of drugs.
When later questioned about the translated messages on his phone, Ramos admitted that he 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.
He confirmed that people were asking him for drugs on his phone, but denied that the message which refer to money owned related to drugs supply.
DS James McGranahan, an expert in drug trafficking matters, said that the cannabis seized would have a street value up to £1,630 whilst the MDMA seized would have a street value of up to £150.
DS McGranahan also concluded that Ramos is owed over £14,000 by various individuals. A further £6,399 is contained in the deal list, however, this cannot be attributed to any specific individuals.
Ramos explained that he would lend people cash, 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 who he owed money to over the past two years.
Pleading guilty in September 2022, Ramos stated that he supplied between one and four grams of cannabis to up to two friends but maintained that he did not not make any money from it.
He also admitted to supplying up to three tablets of MDMA to one friend but said that he did not profit from this supply either.
Ramos was sentenced in the Royal Court in front of the Superior Number, which deals with the most serious cases, in December.
Delivering the sentence, 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".
On Friday, a confiscation hearing took place in the Royal Court, and Ramos was ordered to pay £4,744, after it was found that he made almost £5,000 profit from his crimes.
He was given two months to pay.
Pictured top: Examples of the high-strength 'Panama' MDMA tablets.
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