Gunman turned up at family home of dad with £2k debt
Debt-ridden Jordan Frost sold crack cocaine after a gunman turned up at his Stoke-on-Trent home. The 30-year-old sent out flare messages advertising the drug for sale.
And when he was detained by police they analysed his phone and found it contained messages in which he directed others to locations to deliver deals.
Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court heard he was trying to pay off his own £2,000 drug debt and at one point people turned up his partner's home with a firearm. Now Frost, who has a previous conviction for drug-dealing, has been jailed for 40 months after a judge told him 'if you swim with the sharks you get bitten'.
Prosecutor Fiona Cortese said police executed a search warrant at an address in Norton on October 1, 2020 and the man inside the property had a mobile. It contained a message sent by Frost advertising cocaine for sale.
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Miss Cortese said: "On October 7, 2020 an officer saw the defendant in the driver's seat of a Ford Fiesta on Community Drive, Smallthorne. He was detained. A Nokia and an iPhone were seized as well as £1,160 in the door pocket on the driver's side. He was arrested.
"An officer called the telephone number stored on the mobile phone. The Nokia rang. It was examined and messages relating to the supply of cocaine were recovered. Some were directing other people to locations to deliver cocaine to users."
The court heard Frost had 12 previous convictions for 16 offences including offering to supply class B drug cannabis and possession of cannabis.
Frost, of Westbourne Drive, Tunstall, pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of a class A drug. His plea was on a basis that he was at the time a user of crack cocaine and accrued a £2,000 debt. He was told if he could not repay the money they would 'come for him and his family'. If he did not pay the cash he would have to work for them. People did attend his partner's home with a firearm.
Stuart Muldoon, mitigating, said: "He does show remorse. He was supplying the drug he was addicted to. It goes back to 2020. He has taken steps to address his addiction and offending behaviour. He last took any kind of illicit substance 12 months ago.
"He is more concerned about his children with him going to custody than he is for himself. His plan upon release is to remain drug-free and get back into employment."
Recorder Robert Smith said: "On October 1 2020 police executed a search warrant at an address in Norton. The occupant was in possession of a mobile phone which contained flare messages. You sent those messages.
"On October 7, 2020 police detained you in Smallthorne. The Nokia seized from your person had the same number that sent out the flare messages offering cocaine for sale.
"There were texts showing you had cocaine for sale. You made arrangements for it to be sold and you directed other people to locations to deliver cocaine to users.
"It seems you may have been in debt to other drug dealers. But you are a convicted drug dealer. You knew full well what you were getting yourself into and you knew full well that the world of drug dealing is a dangerous and murky world. If you swim with the sharks you get bitten.
"Cocaine is a very addictive substance. Communities are blighted by its use. The awful impact of cocaine use reaches out to every corner of society. People like you who supply cocaine are responsible for that human misery."
Recorder Smith ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the drugs and made a deprivation order for the Nokia and the £1,160 cash.
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