Damian Robert Larsen, 20, appeared in the Dunedin District Court yesterday, where he was sentenced to two and a-half years’ imprisonment.
The defendant became the target of police inquiries in August last year after they seized the phone of one of his associates while executing a search warrant.
Examination of the device gave officers access to Facebook Messenger group chats concerning drug dealing, which were run by someone using the pseudonym "Dono Nufin Mayte".
The mystery man was Larsen.
Police found several days earlier the defendant had ended one group chat and started another.
As administrator, Larsen named the chat and added the members, informing them the rules remained the same.
"He told them to post their product and to be honest about weights. He warned participants about ripping people off," a prosecution summary said.
Combing through the message history, police identified 124 offers to supply drugs — including cocaine, LSD, MDMA and cannabis — and two confirmations of completed cannabis deals over the previous four weeks.
On one occasion he messaged the group that he had "plenty of eckies" (slang for MDMA), said he would drop them off to buyers and offered discounts for bulk purchases.
The 789g of cannabis offered could have scored him $11,700, court documents said.
In December last year, police raided Larsen’s home and confiscated his cellphone.
Analysis revealed he had sent a family member a message 10 days earlier stating: "he couldn’t put up with being poor and that he might have to start drug dealing again".
Counsel Brian Kilkelly claimed his client had been selling to support his own addiction but Judge David Robinson said the comment to the relative cast some doubt on that.
"Each of the drugs you were offering to supply is a well-known cause of harm in our society," the judge said.
"You perpetuated that harm by making the substance available to other people."
Larsen should have been well aware of the damage the narcotics caused, Judge Robinson said, after Larsen admitted once he used meth "it all went downhill from there".
As well as five drug charges, the defendant was also convicted of two charges of disqualified driving, one of failing to stop for police and breaching community work.
When Corrections sent the defendant a message in August last year reminding him of his sentence obligations, he replied: "I’m not coming bro I hate being around retards I have more self-respect than that."
Larsen was disqualified from driving for 12 months.
