A drug dealer has been jailed after he was caught trafficking for a third time.
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Rochester resident Brendan James Avis was pulled over in Kyabram on March 10.
In the car police found four grams of methamphetamine, empty deal bags, scales, and a phone containing messages related to selling drugs.
The car's registration was also cancelled.
He was arrested and made no comment in his police interview.
On Wednesday, Avis pleaded guilty in the Bendigo Magistrates' Court to trafficking methamphetamine and driving an unregistered vehicle.
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The court heard Avis had two prior convictions for trafficking: for the first, he was placed on a community corrections order and for the second, he was jailed for a month but the sentence was overturned on appeal and he was instead fined.
Defence lawyer Nicholas Rolfe asked magistrate Patrick Southey to consider giving Avis another chance on a community corrections order.
Mr Rolfe said Avis stopped using drugs and got a job after he was put on his last order in 2018.
But when Avis relapsed in 2019, he said, his life spiralled out of control.
Mr Rolfe said his client would live with his mother and there was a prospect he would regain his job.
Avis was afraid of contracting COVID-19 in prison, he said, so was strongly motivated to succeed.
He said there also needed to be a therapeutic element to the sentence, explaining Avis became a heavy drug user after a relationship breakdown more than five years ago.
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Avis told the magistrate he was willing to put himself into rehabilitation, would cut ties with troublesome associates, and wanted to put his daughter first.
But Mr Southey sentenced Avis to three months' imprisonment, with 21 days already served, and fined him $500.
He took into account Avis' guilty plea and said if it were not for that, he would have imposed a six-month jail term.
Mr Southey said someone on their third trafficking offence might ordinarily face a tougher sentence, but these were "different times" and Avis appeared genuine.
Avis was also fined another $1000, having been resentenced for breaching an earlier community corrections order.
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