Kiwi man jailed for posting drugs from Las Vegas to mother's house

A New Zealander caught posting methamphetamine from Las Vegas to his mother's house will spend a long time in prison for gambling with the law.

Luke William Taylor also sent drugs to a PO Box and a friend's house in Levin, often having them posted under fake names.

The 31-year-old Waitarere Beach resident was sentenced in the Palmerston North District Court on Wednesday to eight years and one month behind bars for importing methamphetamine, LSD and ecstasy.

According to a summary of facts, 10 packages were intercepted by customs between September and November 2014.

The packages were sent from Germany and Las Vegas, containing various quantities of drugs.

A package from Las Vegas, addressed to Taylor's mother's house, had one of his fingerprints on it, and was likely sent while he was in the city in October.

A total of 340.4 grams of methamphetamine, 558 tabs of ecstasy and 25 tabs of LSD were caught by customs officers.

In a pre-sentence report, Taylor said he both sold, and used, the drugs.

Crown prosecutor Michele Wilkinson-Smith said Taylor imported commercial volumes of the drugs, and having different kinds of drugs would have made him a more "attractive" person to deal with.

Defence lawyer Peter Coles said Taylor had lived his mother, who he cared for while on electronically-monitored bail.

Taylor's mother had suffered as a result of her son's offending, he said.

"That realisation is profound now, but has come much too late.

"It is accepted that it is going to be a lengthy [prison] term.

"He is going to have a lengthy enforced abstinence from drugs, one would hope."

Taylor got into importing drugs through his use of them, Coles said.

"It is extremely unfortunate, in the current society, that social media enables people to come to know of things like [secretive illegal drug website] Silk Road and other means of obtaining drugs from countries which they have no previous connection.

The offending was naive, illustrated by Taylor getting all his packages through the post.

"Anyone who watches shows like Border Patrol and sees what happens at mail sorting areas would realise that, ultimately, this would be detected," Coles said.

"There was no concealment of the type seen in some cases...when they are contained in statues."

Judge Gerard Lynch said Taylor had made $12,000 from the methamphetamine, and used up to half a gram a day.

His time in prison awaiting sentencing had shown him the effects of methamphetamine use, the judge said.

"You show remorse for what your offending has done to your mother and the victims of methamphetamine use."

The amount of drugs imported, the pre-meditation involved and the frequency of imports were all aggravating factors. 

"Methamphetamine is a scourge on our society.

"When importations like these are detected, sentences must deter those like you, Mr Taylor, who are keen to be peddling misery."

The judge gave a starting point of 11 years for the methamphetamine importation, raising it by one year for the LSD and ecstasy, then lowering it for early guilty pleas, remorse and time spent on electronically monitored bail.

He did not impose a minimum sentence, saying the Parole Board would be in the best position to know when Taylor should be released.