Andrew Douglas Pullen, 29, of Gnotuk Road, pleaded guilty in the Warrnambool Magistrates Court during March to trafficking Oxycontin and cannabis, assault, theft and attempted theft. 

He was placed on a 12-month community corrections order with conditions he complete 150 hours’ community work, undertake assessment and treatment for drug dependency and programs to reduce reoffending.

This week he applied to be resentenced after resigning from the Rebels because he is now working six days a week for up to 10 hours a day.

A letter from his knackery employer was submitted to the court. 

Magistrate Peter Mellas questioned whether Pullen wanted to be resentenced just so he could avoid addressing his drug issues, which have been ongoing for more than a decade.

But after hearing evidence he said it appeared that Pullen had made some difficult decisions and was working to support his partner and their two children.

Pullen was convicted, fined $3000 and jailed for four months,  with the sentence suspended for two years.

Pullen was warned that any offending in the next two years could be expected to lead to him serving the four-month prison sentence as a starting point.

In March Pullen pleaded guilty to being involved in the on sale of Oxycontin tablets — a prescription opiate-based pain medication — to a group of users in the Camperdown area.

The level of trafficking was described as “occasional and opportunistic” by a magistrate, rather than organised.

Mid last year Warrnambool police began Operation Underfeed to focus on the trafficking of Oxycontin by Pullen in the Camperdown area.

Telephone intercepts were put in place and led to 142 text messages and conversations relating to trafficking drugs, particularly Oxycontin.

Police detailed almost daily conversations and text messages between Pullen and a number of Camperdown people, many of whom legally obtained Oxycontin legally through prescriptions.

Pullen was claimed to be an opiate addict who was desperate for Oxycontin, otherwise known as hillbilly heroin.