Jesse Vallerant jailed in Adelaide District Court for trafficking methamphetamine in Whyalla

A former firefighter who was dealing drugs in the community to pay off his own meth debt made violent and coercive threats to a customer if they didn’t pay up.

A country drug dealer who threatened customers if they didn’t pay their debts didn’t stop selling even after he was caught the first time.

Jesse Blaze Vallerant, 28, was jailed in the Adelaide District Court on Tuesday for the “bad choices” he made.

The court heard police received information Vallerant was involved in drug trafficking in January 2019.

They searched Vallerant’s car and found 3.5g of methamphetamine, a mobile phone and $2600 in cash.

“A search of the mobile phone located text messages indicative of you trafficking in methamphetamine,” Judge Timothy Heffernan said during sentencing.

Jesse Vallerant was jailed in the Adelaide District Court for drug trafficking. Picture: Facebook

Police searched Vallerant’s house and found cash, more methamphetamine, empty resealable bags and a tick list.

His house was searched again in April 2020 and police found cash, multiple mobile phones and 29.7g of methamphetamine, valued between $3500-5000.

The court heard Vallerant had sent a customer a Facebook message in January 2020 discussing money he owed him.

“You wrote ‘just putting it as friendly and straightforward as possible. You have til your next pay next week to pay, otherwise the bill gets passed on to the club’s debt collector and then whatever happens then is out of my hands man’,” Judge Heffernan said.

“Nothing personal but it’s been long enough and business is business.

“The detective who searched your phone stated there were large volumes of similar messages on the phone and he identified at least 15 people who appeared to have contacted you with respect to drugs.”

Vallerant, of Whyalla, had previously pleaded guilty to two counts of drug trafficking.

The court heard Vallerant, who was born in the Barossa Valley, started taking drugs in his teenage years.

“You were bullied and started hanging out with the wrong crowd,” Judge Heffernan said.

The court heard Vallerant, who had previously worked as a firefighter, became addicted to methamphetamine after a relationship breakdown.

“As a result of your drug consumption you accumulated debts … you began selling drugs to repay the debts you had accrued and to enable you to continue consumption,” Judge Heffernan said.

“You obviously did make some bad choices and that involved distributing methamphetamine to others in the community over a sustained period of time.”

Judge Heffernan said he rejected Vallerant’s claim that he never intended to send third parties to collect the unpaid debt.

“The message shows that you were prepared to make coercive threats and instil the fear of violence as a means of collecting money,” he said.

“When you said ‘business is business’ you meant it.”

Judge Heffernan sentenced Vallerant to six years jail, with a non-parole of three years.

“The social harm caused by methamphetamine is insidious, widespread and well known,” he said.