A drug dealer and expectant father was found selling heroin and crack cocaine after police searched his home for an imitation firearm and discovered "text bombs" on seized phones.
Keiron Card, 26, was visited by officers at his Rhymney home on December 27 last year where they seized an air rifle and an iPhone which revealed messages relating to drug dealing.
The home was searched again on February 6 after Card's partner Carly Jones was stopped while driving and was found in possession of another imitation firearm which belonged to the defendant.
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Also inside the car officers found a tub bicarbonate of soda which is used for cutting drugs. Another search of the couple's then-home in Brookfield Avenue resulted in £500, two mobile phones, and digital weighing scales being seized.
A sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court on Wednesday heard analysis of these phones also revealed messages relating to the sale of diamorphine and crack cocaine.
Text bombs – a term used for messaging a number of people at the same time – had been sent to up to 69 contacts advertising prices of £120 for "a baller", referring to a street deal of 3.5g of heroin.
Prosecutor Christopher Rees said: "This defendant is not simply a street dealer but involved in supplying mid-level quantities of drugs sold on to street dealers. The prosecution's case is the presence of bicarbonate of soda, weighing scales, and the text bombs indicate the defendant is buying and selling on a commercial scale. It's a role greater than significant."
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The defendant, now of Church Street, Rhymney, later pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of heroin and cocaine.
Defence barrister Jenny Yeo said Card maintained he only supplied to users and not to other dealers. She said he became involved in the trade through his own addiction to cocaine which he now regrets and wished to apologise to "the court, his family, and unborn child".
Recorder Sean Bradley sentenced Card to a total of four years and two months imprisonment.
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