Peterborough man found in house with £1,500 of cocaine bagged and ready for sale

Eleven days after being sentenced by Cheltenham Magisrates for a drugs offence, Rivaldo Da Rosa, 22, was found in a house in the town with £1,500 worth of cocaine bagged up ready for sale on September 17, a court heard.

Da Rosa also had two mobile phones with him, one of which was a known ‘county lines’ dealers’ phone that had been regularly sending out texts to about 100 people offering drugs for sale, Gloucester Crown Court was told.

However, the prosecution accepted that Da Rosa, of Eyrescroft, Bretton, Peterborough, was merely a ‘custodian’ for the drugs and phones at the time and had been looking after them for others.

He pleaded guilty on that basis to a charge of possessing cocaine with intent to supply on 17th September last year and was jailed for 19 months by Recorder Robin Sellers.

The judge said Da Rosa’s sentence could not be suspended as he had committed the offence despite having a ‘shot across the bows’ just a few days earlier, on September 6, when magistrates fined him £400 for cannabis possession.

Prosecutor Alex Daymond said that on Sept 17th 2021 police raided a suspected drug den in Keynsham street, Cheltenham, with a warrant and found Da Rosa in an upstairs bedroom.

Next to him on the bed were two mobile phones and a bag containing wraps of cocaine. Other wraps were also later found in his possession. In total there were thirty wraps with a street value between £1,200 and £1,500.

“One of the two phones had a number which police knew was operating as a drugs line in Cheltenham,” said the barrister.

“It had been used to send out bulk text messages, up to 100 a day. That had been going on since June last year.

“We accept that the defendant was not necessarily involved in sending these messages himself. “

Mr Daymon said Da Rosa made no comment when interviewed by police.

Da Rosa’s only previous criminal conviction had been at Cheltenham Magistrates Court on Sept 6th when he admitted possessing cannabis.

Susan Cavender, for Da Rosa, said Da Rosa has been in this country since March 2020 and has always been in work. He had gone to stay with people he knew in Cheltenham and got caught up in the drugs operation there, she said.

“He had no awareness of the scale of the operation and no epectation of any financial or other advantage from being there. In his own mind he had nothing to do with these drugs at all and he thought he was not guilty of possession with any intent. But he accepted immediately that he was a custodian at that time and would be returning the drugs to the owners.”

The judge told Da Rosa “It seems to me that the circumstances were plain and it was obvious to you what was going on in that house. In effect, you decided to stay there anyway and fall asleep while you were the custodian of that drugs business.”