Man who asked hotel clerk to look after bag of drugs gets suspended sentence over ‘extremely amateur’ offense

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A man who got himself arrested in Adelaide, Australia, after asking hotel staff to look after his bag containing drugs has received a lighter sentence.

Con Psarras, 31, was given a suspended sentence because of the “exceptional circumstances” of his case, as per Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) News on Dec. 5.

The suspect reportedly left his sports bag at the counter of the Findon Hotel while he got money for booking. The hotel’s manager and an employee, however, saw that the bag had a white container with a “viscous liquid-like drug” inside.

The said substance turned out to be 7.68 kilograms of the drug called fantasy.

Psarras, who was sentenced last Friday, Dec. 4, has pleaded guilty to trafficking a large commercial quantity of a controlled drug, according to the report.

Judge Paul Cuthbertson noted that while the penalty for Psarras’s offense is AUS$1 million and life imprisonment, the latter received a suspended sentence over the “exceptional circumstances” of his crime, which the judge said was “unusual in the extreme” and “stupid behavior.”

“Although the quantity of the drug is such that it comes within the offense of trafficking in a large commercial quantity, the circumstances of the offending are unusual in that [it is] far from suggesting a highly professional, serious and organized crime offense,” Cuthbertson was quoted as saying.

Cuthbertson added that Psarras’ case appeared “extremely amateur” and was “committed under circumstances suggesting the offender may well have been under the influence of some drugs at the time.”

Psarass, who had spent five months in custody, has done well in rehabilitation and had strong family support, according to the report.

Psarass also received a 20% discount for pleading guilty and was granted a non-parole period of two years. The sentence was suspended in exchange for a AUS$100 bond, 200 hours of community service and being subjected to strict monitoring including drug testing. Ian Biong /ra

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