Steven Bernard: Dad became drug dealer after losing job, wife, house

A Carrum Downs man ran a high-end ice racket picking up meth from a carpark, splitting it into deal bags and flogging it to druggies on credit.

Steven Bernard became a drug dealer after losing his job, his wife and his house.

A dad who was nabbed trafficking drugs in a police raid of his Carrum Downs home escaped a jail term because of a near clean criminal record.

Steven Paul Bernard will instead have to do 250 hours of unpaid community work.

The 43-year-old construction worker has no drug priors of any kind, and only one minor theft charge dating back to when he was just 19.

The father of teen twins pleaded guilty to trafficking ice at the Frankston Magistrates’ Court on Monday.

The court heard police had been tipped off that drug activity was taking place at Bernard’s home and raided it on October 29 last year.

Officers found ice in bedroom drawers and in sunglasses cases, empty deal bags, scales and $495 cash in his wallet.

They came across a tick sheet and two phones with a series of messages detailing deals and amounts.

And in another room they found $3200 in cash stashed inside a jacket in a wardrobe.

All up cops uncovered 27g of ice – worth well over $10,000 on the street.

Bernard admitted dealing, saying he had been selling for two or three months after picking up supplies weekly or fortnightly from a car park at a nearby supermarket.

He said he would tell buyers to park a street or two away before coming to his house.

Purchasers could either pay for their hits in cash, or more usually, by transferring money to his bank account.

Defence lawyer Nadia Giorgianni said he suffered the grief of losing his parents which became the catalyst for more drug use.

She said this led to the breakdown of his marriage and combined with no work, he struggled to afford the mortgage.

“He felt desperate; (he) lost his wife, lost his job and was losing his house,” she said.

“He made the wrong decision, he is trying to pick up the pieces, he is very remorseful.”

Magistrate Dr Michael King said it wasn’t a small scale effort.

“It had sophistication, planning, organisation, even credit — it was quite the operation,” Dr King said.

But he said his lack of relevant priors, frankness with police and evident remorse meant he would be spared a jail term “by the barest of margins”, and instead have to pay a penalty in unpaid graft.

Bernard was placed on a 15-month corrections order with conditions he do 250 hours of community work and undertake drug counselling.