A MAGISTRATE has refused to sentence a drug trafficker saying she wanted to know if he was clean.
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Stormy Max Shepherd, 33, of Glenview Drive, Warrnambool, was arrested in November and charged with eight counts of trafficking drugs after being arrested at the the Sherwood Park railway station.
In April he pleaded guilty to a reduced number of charges in the Warrnambool Magistrates Court after being described as a "one-stop pharmaceutical outlet".
His case was adjourned so Shepherd could go into rehabilitation at Odyssey House in Benalla.
On Monday lawyer Jack Rabl admitted that a placement had fallen through in the days before Shepherd was to be admitted after Odyssey House decided to no longer take people on prescription medication Suboxone.
Shepherd then decided to go it alone and said he had since been attending day rehabilitation in Melbourne.
Mr Rabl submitted his client should now receive a community corrections order as he had been on strict bail conditions for months and had not further offended.
He added that since being arrested Shepherd had taken every possible step to stop using illicit drugs.
But magistrate Cynthia Toose was far from convinced.
She said there had been no evidence tendered to the court and Shepherd had been charged with "trafficking every known drug".
"I'm concerned about the absence of material. I want to know if he's clean," she said.
"He's saying ‘I’m clean, give me a corrections order’. It does not necessarily follow."
Ms Toose adjourned sentencing until September 10 and Mr Rabl committed to provide further material detailing his client’s progress.
Police previously said that at 4.40pm on November 18 last year Shepherd was arrested at the Sherwood Park train station on a warrant for failing to appear in Sunshine court.
He was observed getting off a bus, handcuffed but attempted to flee and was taken to ground.
His backpack was searched and police located a large range of drugs.
Officers found 12 capsules of heroin, a rock of the same drug and two zip lock bags of heroin.
There were also 12 zip lock bags of amphetamine, two zip lock bags of ecstasy, 30 tabs of LSD and four different prescription medications involving more than 170 tablets.
Shepherd also had cocaine in his possession, digital scales and a kubaton key chain weapon.
Police noted most of the drugs were packaged for individual sale.
Mr Rabl said his client had been engaged in the limited sale to friends.
"His life at the time was about maintaining his habit," he said, adding that Shepherd had struggled with his mental health since he was a teenager.
"His self-medicating became out-of-control, but he did not see himself as engaging in anti-social behaviour," he said.