A young father has been jailed for a year after being caught with more than $3,000 of crack cocaine at PHC club in Warwick last year.

Roosevelt Eugene Winters begged for mercy but Magistrate William Francis said authorities had to crack down on the drug menace.

He said he would have jailed Winters for six months but he had been caught in an increased penalty zone and so the penalty had to be doubled.

The PHC club in Stadium Lane - which was raided by Police on May 11 after officers were tipped off - is less than 300 yards from Spice Valley Middle School.

A search revealed Winters was carrying three large crack rocks worth $450 and nine smaller rocks worth $2,900 in his pocket.

The haul totalled $3,350.

Winters denied having the drug but admitted yesterday to having $1,263 in cash on him when Police detained him as he sat drinking in the bar.

He told Crown Counsel Wayne Caines he earned the money from his job at a gas station which netted around $600 a week with tips.

Asked why he was carrying such a large sum, Winters, now a Parks Department worker, said: "I save sometimes."

Mr Caines said: "You keep it in your pocket as a bank account?"

Mr. Caines asked for a jail sentence and said the Warwick area needed a respite from Winters' activities.

Winters, 33, from Spring Hill, Warwick said there would be no one to look after his son if he was jailed because his mother was dead.

He said: "Have mercy on me for my son's sake."

But Mr. Francis said his decision was made.