A Berkeley man will face court next month for sentencing after police discovered evidence he and his defacto partner were organising drug deals over the phone.
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Adrian Mauricio, 29, pleaded guilty to multiple drug-related charges in Wollongong Local Court on Wednesday including supply offences relating to the sale of methamphetamine, or 'ice', earlier this year.
Documents tendered to the court reveal Mauricio came under police notice by chance when officers spotted he and his partner at a service station in Corrimal on the evening of May 29.
Police conducted checks on their internal database which revealed Mauricio's partner was on an intensive corrections order that had a condition banning her from being in Mauricio's company.
The officers parked on Collins Street out of sight of the service station and stopped Mauricio as he walked past them.
He told police his partner had just dropped him off and he was walking to the train station to return to his home in Berkeley.
Meanwhile, other police officers pulled Mauricio's partner over a short time later while she was driving along the Princes Highway.
She initially denied being at the service station with Mauricio but then admitted she had been there with him, but claimed they weren't doing anything wrong.
Officers searched the vehicle, discovering $1,750 in the woman's purse, which she allegedly claimed was money she'd saved over time from her fortnightly Centrelink payments.
They also found a mobile phone which contained Mauricio's Facebook account, which was active and receiving incoming messages.
Police seized the device, allowed the woman to leave the scene and returned to the station where they began analysing the phone.
The court heard officers were in the process of recording drug-related messages contained in the Facebook account when it was remotely deactivated.
However, they said they still managed to record an "extensive amount" of messages, and also discovered photographs of packaged drugs, cash, drug paraphernalia and drug ledgers.
In one message, Mauricio contacted a client to complain the meth he'd picked up recently was "too petroly" and said he could supply the man with 28g once his dealer "changed batches".
On another occasion, Mauricio discussed the current "hectic price" of meth with another client while agreeing to supply him with 1.75g.
Later, he told a third customer he had a "cracker" batch available and said he could supply a "ball" of ice (3.5g) for $1,000.
"Everyone else's balls are $1,200," he boasted regarding his low prices.
Mauricio was arrested on June 7 during a vehicle stop at Koonawarra. Police found him with a mobile phone, $200 in cash and two sets of Bluetooth headphones still sealed in their boxes, which they suspected had been unlawfully obtained.
Mauricio was taken to Wollongong Police Station, charged and remanded in custody.
He remains behind bars and will face court for sentencing on October 30.