Edwinstowe man left holding bag after pub-goers convinced him to deal drugs
An "isolated and immature" Edwinstowe man who was persuaded to sell cocaine by people he met in the pub was “left holding the bag” when police caught him with more than £6,000 of the class A drug, cash, and weapons.
Police raided Sean Wrobleski’s address at 7.30am on May 5, 2022, when they found him coming out of a bedroom, prosecutor Jas Dhaliwal said.
They discovered a machete, a knife, a knuckleduster and a wooden bat, digital scales and other paraphernalia, as well as cocaine valued by a drugs expert between £3,000 and £6,500.
Dealer lists and mobile phones with messages that boasted “I sell all weights,” were also uncovered with £215 in cash.
Nottingham Crown Court heard the 29-year-old, who has no previous convictions, made no comment when he was interviewed by police.
Digby Johnson, mitigating, said: “It’s an unusual case. In many ways it has a bright side. Since May 2022 he has got rid of his addictions to cannabis and cocaine.”
He said there was “no high living or extravagance” and Wrobleski lives “without posh clothes or a car.”
Mr Johnson said his “shattered upbringing” led to an isolated and emotionally-immature adulthood. People in a local pub invited him to take cocaine and encouraged him to supply them with drugs, through a “friend of a friend,” to feed his own habit and save them money.
“He recognises he was weak. He was the one in danger. He was arrested. Since he was raided there’s no suggestion he has been involved in further offending. It’s not an entirely unhopeful story.”
Wrobleski, now of Fourth Avenue, Edwinstowe, admitted possession with intent to supply cocaine at a previous hearing.
On Wednesday, Judge Steven Coupland told him: “Anybody who sets out to make a profit by dealing class A drugs based on the misery of other people can expect to got to prison for a very long time.
"Four-and-a-half years is the starting point.”
But he accepted this wasn’t a “cynical” money-making decision but rather “a more sorry tale,” following an “incredibly difficult upbringing that was not your fault at all.”
“You were the one who was left holding the bag and facing the consequences,” he said.
He imposed a two-year sentence, suspended for two years, with 200 hours of unpaid work and 20 rehabilitation days.