A regular family man who turned into a poker player and drug dealer was sentenced to prison. His desire to become wealthy swiftly pushed him to become a professional drug dealer. After being accused with intent to provide cocaine, he is now behind bars.
Ashley Mark Locker, 29, is in jail, according to reports, after police discovered cocaine worth $10,385 in his home and $1,270 cash in his car.
After being detained by authorities in November 2019, he sought to use poker as a cover story for carrying huge quantities of cash and got lucky. Locker told the cops that he was a poker player and that the enormous sum of money was for a poker game.
Locker was arrested and charged with possessing cocaine with the intent to provide on the spot, and he pleaded guilty earlier this month in York Crown Court.
His lawyer, Anna Bond, pleaded with the judge for leniency, telling the court that he was involved in drug distribution to pay off gambling debts and that he did so solely to pay off the debts. But the judge disagreed, telling Ashley that he didn’t choose this path to pay off his debts because he wanted to get rich quick without realizing the consequences of his decision and that this decision to make a lot of money in a short amount of time turned out to be the worst decision of his life.
You have no clue how many individuals lost their money only to pay you, how many children went hungry, and how many women had to deal with domestic abuse and despair because their whole family income was paid to you,
said Judge Sean Morris.
As a consequence, Ashley was sentenced to 26 months in prison, but Anna insisted that he is a “typical family man” who was attempting to protect his family and pay off his obligations since he realized that playing poker earns more money than working in a factory for eight years.
Like any other addiction story, this one has a sad ending. He was a successful gambler at first, but he began to lose money and became addicted. Out of desperation, he turned to drug dealing, and that is how he ended up where he is today, said Ms. Bond.
In favor of Ashley, Anna told the judge that he is attempting to atone for his wrongdoings by attending Gamblers Anonymous and that he now has a support network in place to prevent him from returning to gambling. He also found work with a property management firm. She stated, “He has turned his life around.”
Overall, it would be interesting to see how this plays out because, under UK law, Ashley Locker would be eligible for parole after serving half of his sentence in prison. He had plenty of time to reflect on his actions and, of course, to hone his poker skills.
