Gareth John, a Wales native and previously convicted anabolic steroid distributor, is headed back to jail after violating the terms of his suspended sentence when– a sentence that he received for peddling anabolic steroids.
Just 32 years old, John was caught selling anabolic steroids in early 2018. After a quick investigation, it was found that John was possessing a significant enough quantity of performance-enhancing drugs and anabolic steroids to receive charges of intent to distribute.
However, the judge presiding over the case decided to give John an opportunity to avoid going to jail because this was the first time he had been in trouble with the law. The judge instead suspended the 16 week prison sentence that was going to be passed down upon recommendation of the prosecution, though the suspension carried a 12 month probationary period whereupon John would have to stay out of trouble with the law to avoid being sent to prison immediately to carry out the full duration of his sentence.
It only took John about three months to violate his suspension, and he is set to serve out the entirety of his 16 week prison sentence on top of any of the jail time he may be charged with upon the conclusion of his upcoming trial.
Trouble started for John when he sent more than 100 “repellent” and “threatening” voice messages and text messages to a Mr. Jeffrey Mears, his landlord at the time. His landlord reported to the authorities immediately, showing them the evidence, and also describing these kinds of attacks as occurring throughout the months of both March and April.
Mears presented a number of transcripts to investigators and authorities, and the prosecution wasted absolutely no time whatsoever sharing these transcripts with the judge in open court. The transcripts showed a clearly disturbed John threatening violence, threatening to destroy Mr. Mears entire life, and taunting Mr. Mears by telling him that he had absolutely no idea just what John was truly capable of doing and that he should be afraid.
Thankfully, John didn’t actually carry out any of these threats, though obviously the making of such threats was enough to grab the attention of local police officers and investigators that found John to have a criminal record worthy of closer inspection.
After being hauled into court, John immediately pled guilty to the charge of “harassment without violence”, and the judge presiding over the case activated the suspended sentence. John will now serve the full 16 weeks of his steroid prison sentence on top of an extra 10 weeks for the charge of harassment.
In most situations, charges like this will run concurrently and would have allowed John to walk out of prison inside of 16 weeks. However, the judge in this case has decided that because John took no time whatsoever to violate his suspended sentence that he should serve these two sentences consecutively rather than concurrently. That means he is going to have to spend a total of 26 weeks behind bars, with no possibility of early release until he has served at least half of that total sentence.
The defense for John did try to persuade the judge to have mercy by telling the court that John had a history of drug and alcohol abuse, had serious mental health concerns, and even that he had a split personality issue in an effort to avoid jail time. Records did show that John had been previously detained under the Mental Health Act of 1983, but the judge presiding over this case decided that John was fully fit and mentally healthy enough to not just stand trial but also to spend time behind bars for his crimes.
Source: https://www.steroid.com/blog/Convicted-Steroid-Supplier-in-Wales-Goes-to-Jail-After-Violating-Terms-of-Suspended-Sentence.php