A drug dealer who set himself up as a “retailer in class A substances” at the age of just 16 is facing jail.
Lewis Raitt, now 18, set up shop selling cocaine and etizolam – also known as “street valium” – while his school age cohorts were preparing for their fourth year exams.
He spent 11 months dealing in the class A and class C drugs until police were tipped off about his business, which a court was told was purely for money making.
They raided the home he shares with his parents in the Downfield area of Dundee and found a stash of more than £10,000 of etizolam tablets and incriminating texts on his mobile phone indicating he’d been selling cocaine in gram and half-gram deals for most of 2017.
A sheriff told Raitt that despite his young age he faces a lengthy jail sentence, and added: “It sounds as if he is trading on his own account as a retailer in class A drugs and in a class C substance in very substantial quantities.”
Fiscal depute Charmaine Gilmartin told Dundee Sheriff Court: “For some time Police Scotland received intelligence to the effect that the accused was concerned in the supply of controlled drugs.
“A search warrant was executed on November 30 2017 and the accused was found in the house.
“The house was searched and items were seized including a plastic bag containing ten bags of white tables and an iPhone box containing £340 in cash.
“The recovered tablets were confirmed to be etizolam. In total 10,315 tablets were recovered with a maximum illicit value of £10,315.
“During the search his step-father returned to the house and he voluntarily stated: ‘It’s mine, the bag and the stuff, it’s mine. It’s nothing to do with them, it’s just steroids.’
“His mobile phone was analysed and drug-related texts were found that showed he was concerned in the supplying of cocaine.
“No cocaine was recovered when the police searched but the texts show he was supplying a gram (or) half a gram at a time.”
Raitt, 18, of Brackens Road, Dundee, pleaded guilty on indictment to being concerned in the supply of cocaine between January 13 2017 and November 30 2017 at his home address and elsewhere unknown.
He further admitted being concerned in the supply of etizolam on November 30 last year.
Defence solicitor Doug McConnell said: “He appreciates the level of severity of this offence.
“He’s very much in a position where he may go into custody today.
“He knows full well that custody is at the highest regard for this matter.”
Sheriff Alastair Brown deferred sentence until next month for social work background reports and released Raitt on bail meantime.
He said: “Anybody who goes into business on their own account dealing in drugs is very, very likely to go to prison, especially if it is class A drugs.
“You were dealing in cocaine, which is a class A, and you had a very substantial quantity of etizolam.
“I find it difficult to see how even at your age I can avoid a significant custodial sentence for this.”
