Stephen Elsdon twice supplied crack cocaine to an undercover officer during a Cleveland Police operation to target peddlers in Hartlepool last year.
The 38-year-old was given a 12-month suspended prison sentence with probation service supervision. The Recorder of Middlesbrough, Judge Peter Fox, QC, also ordered that Elsdon undergoes a drug rehabilitation programme over the next two years. He told him: "You are one of the few - very, very few - people who get convicted of supplying Class A drugs who don't go straight to prison.
"You have got a great deal of ability and a great deal going for you, and you are only 38. There is a lot yet you can do with your life, but its down to you."
Teesside Crown Court heard that Elsdon was asked by an associate who became friends with the undercover officer to find crack cocaine.
The pal - jailed last month three years for supplying heroin to the officer - was one of the main targets of Operation Beckford, but Elsdon was not.
Paul Cleasby, mitigating, said Elsdon was a conduit, but since his arrest, he has become drug-free and found a job in the demolition industry. Elsdon, of Masefield Road, Hartlepool, admitted two charges of supplying Class A drugs - on October 24 and November 2 last year. Mr Cleasby told the court: "He recognises the offence in which he became embroiled were serious. He is making every effort to address his underlying issues."
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