Ashley Travis Launders, 25, of Officer Street, Mortlake, pleaded guilty in the Warrnambool Magistrates Court yesterday to trafficking ice and cannabis as well as other drug offences.

A co-accused was last week sentenced to serve a CCO.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Sandra Skilton said only a term of imprisonment was appropriate for anyone who trafficked ice for three years.

Magistrate John Lesser said anyone trafficking ice was unacceptable, especially in the current climate, and Launders had committed the offence over an extended period of time.

He said he had sentenced the co-offender to a community corrections order last week and there were issues of parity.

Mr Lesser said Launders was older and should have been wiser than the co-accused but that clearly wasn’t the case.

He said Launders had trafficked ice for considerably longer and that resulted in more hours of community work.

Launders was convicted, placed on an 18-month CCO with the condition he completes 200 hours’ community work.

The magistrate warned Launders if he did not complete the CCO he risked serving a prison term of between three and six months.

“There is a lot of incentive for you to get it right and get on with the rest of your life,” Mr Lesser told the defendant.

Police undercover agents executed a search warrant at Launders’s Officer Street home as part of a Operation Scattershot.

They found a small hydroponic set-up in a shed and cannabis plants growing in the backyard.

They also located ice smoking pipes and mobile phones.

Launders’ phone contained evidence of trafficking cannabis and he made admissions about that activity. He also told police he trafficked ice from February 2012 for about three years.