A Dundee man who stashed more than £27,000 worth of street Valium in a cupboard at his mother’s home said the massive haul belonged to his late father.
Michael Torano was found guilty of being concerned in the supply of Etizolam.
Officers raided his mother’s house in Dundee‘s Linfield Street on November 3 in 2020 and found 55,655 Class C tablets stashed in a hall cupboard, above the former school cleaner’s tumble drier.
The pills – worth around 50p each – were double-bagged in Asda carriers and Michael Torano’s DNA was found on the knots of both bags.
He told jurors his DNA was on the bags because he had dipped into the stash he assumed belonged to his father Joseph Torano Snr who, he said, had been a habitual street Valium user for over a decade.
Joseph Torano Snr was terminally ill with cancer and died around two months after the police raid.
The court heard Torano’s mother and father were separated but he still visited the home frequently.
Addict ‘took drugs from bags’
Former handyman Michael Torano told his trial at Forfar Sheriff Court last week he had turned to drug use in 2019 after a breakup but had used cannabis most of his life.
He explained his mother did his washing and he regularly visited her home, where the street Valium was found.
He said: “The first time I came across it, I opened it and seen it was white tablets.
“I took some, I had drug problems.
“I’m sure I did go back at one point and took more.
“I wasn’t in the right frame of mind, I didn’t know what to do with myself.”
Jurors heard two days of evidence and took around two hours deliberating before finding Michael Torano guilty, by majority, of being concerned in supplying Etizolam.
Defending, solicitor Theo Finlay said: “He has no drugs convictions. He has a shortish record.
“He has never previously been sentenced to imprisonment.”
Sheriff Krista Johnston ordered reports and deferred sentencing until May 16.
Cannabis raid
Prior to the trial, the 33-year-old admitted growing more than a dozen cannabis plants at his sister’s house, next door to his mother’s.
Officers returned to Linfield Street with another warrant on July 15 2021.
In a tent in the living room, they found 14 cannabis plants, along with an artificial light and plant food.
Another 45 grammes of cannabis was found in an upstairs bedroom drawer.
Michael Torano told officers: “All the cannabis in that house is mine.”
At the same time as one squad of officers searched the Linfield Street property, another team scoured Torano’s flat in Clepington Road.
There, they found multiple sets of digital scales.
Before the trial began, Michael Torano’s co-accused, his 19-year-old nephew Joseph Torano Jr, pled guilty to being concerned in the supply of cocaine.
During the same raid in which the Etizolam was found, police recovered 13.1 grammes of cocaine – worth between £500 and £650 – in Joseph Jr’s bedroom.
They also found £2,100 in cash, a tick list and messages on two mobiles, indicative of drug dealing.
Defending, solicitor James Laverty noted his client was just 16 and 17 at the time of offending.
He said: “This, on the face of it, is a very serious offence which he accepts.
“He has been accepting of his guilt.”
Sheriff Johnston again ordered reports and deferred sentencing until May 16.
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