A Raploch man was this week jailed for almost a year after being caught selling 200 Valium tablets on Facebook.
Craig Brown had made an agreement with a female witness over messenger in which she would buy 200 tablets in the street for £90.
That £90 was passed on to 34-year-old Brown, of Menzies Drive, by another witness.
Brown admitted a charge of being concerned in the supply of a Class-C drug.
Fiscal depute Fiona Griffin told Stirling Sheriff Court on Wednesday that between August 17 and 23, 2019, an agreement had been made online, between Brown and a female witness to go to Raploch to buy 200 Valium tablets for £90.
A second female witness went to Brown’s home address on August 23 to buy some Valium tablets.
While there Brown asked her if she could hand over a parcel containing drugs to somebody outside and take payment for them for him.
Ms Griffin said this witness was not told who to deliver it to, but to meet the other female witness.
At 11.45am the first female witness met the second in Drip Road and handed over the £90 for 200 white tablets.
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The second female witness then went to Brown’s home to hand over the £90 before leaving.
A search warrant was granted for Brown’s Menzies Drive home which was executed on September 19, 2019,
Ms Griffin said police officers found a quantity of snap bags, scales, a box of disposable gloves and a box containing £400 in £20 notes among other things.
Efforts were made to trace Brown, but he was not arrested until February 18, 2020.
That day police officers had attended an unrelated callout in the Stirling area. At 1.30am they had cause to check the accused’s details. Brown was arrested under the Misuse of Drugs Act and taken to Falkirk police station.
His agent Frazer McCready recognised his client had a lengthy record and had been on supervision at the time of the offence.
While Brown had committed previous offences under the Misuse of Drugs Act, Mr McCready told Sheriff Alastair Brown they did not appear to involve dealing.
The accused had described himself as being “in a bad way” in August 2019. A relative, who later passed away, had been very poorly and Brown had been consuming Valium on a daily basis. He had also been selling Valium to pay for this habit.
There were no outstanding cases before the courts, said Mr McCready.
He recognised the nature of the charge, but said unpaid work offered an alternative to custody. Brown would also benefit from supervision, he said.
Sheriff Brown noted that the Crown were pursuing a Proceeds of Crime Order for £6422.25.
While the drug was class-C, Valium, he said, “causes all sorts of difficulties” including shoplifting and crimes of disorder.
He sentenced Brown to 50 weeks’ imprisonment and set an August date for a Proceeds of Crime hearing.
