Home And Away hunk learns fate on drugs charges

Home And Away hunk Orpheus Pledger’s criminal history has been revealed in court as the actor learnt his fate over Chapel St drugs charges.

Orpheus Pledger has escaped conviction after being caught with drugs during a night out in Chapel St.

A Home And Away hunk has been spared a conviction after being caught with ice and valium at a popular Melbourne hotspot.

Orpheus Pledger, 28, was granted a diversion after he was charged with drug possession while on Chapel St, Prahran in February this year.

Pledger did not appear during the brief hearing in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, with his defence lawyer telling the court he had accepted responsibility for the charges and was requesting to be placed on a diversion.

Diversions are usually granted to first-time offenders with no conviction or finding of guilt recorded against them.

But the court heard it was not the first time Pledger had come before a magistrate.

Orpheus Pledger was caught with ice and valium during a night out on Chapel St.

Magistrate Tim Bourke revealed Pledger had been granted a diversion in 2015 over an incident in which he was ordered to undergo an anger management course and write a letter of apology to his victim.

No further details were aired in court as Pledger’s lawyer Carmela Pezzimenti said her only knowledge of the incident came from her client’s own memory.

Mr Bourke said the earlier incident may ordinarily disqualify him from receiving another diversion, but ultimately granted the soap star a second-chance.

Diversions must be agreed to be police and require offenders to comply with certain conditions imposed by the court.

The TV heart throb has been given six months to partake in a drug awareness course, pen a letter of “gratitude” to the police informant in the matter and donate $150 to the court fund.

The soap star was nabbed by police after members of the public observed him acting suspiciously in his car parked on Chapel St about 5.15pm on February 19.

When answering the officer’s questions, the actor had noticeably “slowed speech”, delayed reaction and a “general inability to communicate effectively” with police, a court summary states.

Officers – one of whom had dealt with Pledger on a previous occasion – quickly formed the opinion the House Husbands star was drug-affected and began searching his grey BMW.

Pledger was found to be in possession of half a gram of ice and 30 diazepam – also known as Valium – tablets.

He claimed the pills were prescribed to his brother, despite there being no prescription label on the bottle.

The 28-year-old was arrested and taken to the nearby Prahran police station but was unable to be interviewed due to his drug affected state.

During an earlier bizarre court appearance the actor was seen vaping and petting his cat while dialling in from his living room in July.

Pledger landed the role of Mason Morgan on the long running TV series Home And Away in 2016 before quitting three years later to pursue a career in music.