A convicted drug supplier who was caught selling 70 grams of cannabis near Caseys Beach will appeal a resentence after being caught driving with an illicit substance in his blood.
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Mark Skok, 60, of Surf Beach, was brought back before the courts on a fresh charge stemming from his arrest on December 22 last year.
His fresh charge of driving a motor vehicle with illicit drugs present in blood meant Mr Skok was in breach of community corrections orders he received for charges of supplying a prohibited drug and recklessly dealing with proceeds of crime in relation to an incident in September, 2019.
According to police facts, Mr Skok sold 70 grams of cannabis to a man for $600 just after 11am on September 5, 2019.
He pleaded guilty to the two charges, and was sentenced to two-year community corrections orders for both.
However, Mr Skok breached those community corrections orders on December 22, 2020, after police pulled him over for an illegal U-turn on the Old Princes Highway, Batemans Bay.
According to police facts, Mr Skok returned a negative result to a roadside breath test, but tested positive to cannabis during a roadside oral fluid test.
When asked why he had cannabis in his system, he told police he had eaten a hash cookie with friends two days earlier.
He pleaded guilty to the fresh charge in Batemans Bay Local Court before Magistrate Doug Dick, who sentenced him on Monday, June 7.
Mr Skok's lawyer told Magistrate Dick his client had a steady criminal record up until 2014, during which time he was hospitalised several times with an undisclosed illness.
"Since then, his treatment has been going very well," the lawyer said.
"He's been living and caring for his mother full time, and he wants to keep supporting her because she needs that support."
The lawyer also said a test at the station shortly after Mr Skok's arrest returned a negative result, but the blood test came back positive.
Magistrate Dick revoked both community corrections orders, and fined Mr Skok $2000 for the two original charges.
Mr Skok was also convicted and fined $300 with a three-month disqualification period for the drug driving charge.
He immediately lodged a severity appeal on the sentences - his appeal will be heard at Nowra District Court on August 9.