What’s a Small Witch Hunt in a Big War on Drugs?
Michael Phelps gets photographed holding a bong, and a fame-seeking sheriff arrests lots of people – and how:
“He’s sitting there on Saturday, and 12 cops kick in the door with guns drawn, search the house, and find 5, maybe 6 grams of pot,” [attorney Dick] Harpootlian said about his client, who was arrested in the first raid at the Wells Point Drive home near Ballentine.
“They never asked him, ‘Who sold you the pot?’” Harpootlian continued. “They were asking, ‘Were you at the party with Michael Phelps? Did you see him using marijuana?’ It was all about Michael Phelps.”
The charges resulted from Saturday’s raids and are not connected to the November party that Phelps attended.
Harpootlian, the former top prosecutor for Richland and Kershaw counties, and [attorney Joe] McCulloch contend Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott is conducting an overzealous investigation of their clients to try to get evidence against Phelps.
“The sheriff’s department is deploying resources they are normally reserving for major drug dealers and major criminals,” said McCulloch, also a former prosecutor.
Lott has said he would charge Phelps if he found evidence the superstar swimmer had committed a crime.
Phelps, who won a record eight gold medals in the Summer Olympics in China, has publicly confirmed he was pictured holding a marijuana pipe during an early November party at the Blossom Street house, though he hasn’t specifically admitted using marijuana.
On Saturday, deputies seized four laptop computers, a desktop computer, a computer storage drive and a cell phone in the raid at the lake home — supposedly looking for pictures of Phelps, Harpootlian and McCulloch said.
Richland County, South Carolina, must be a happy place if its biggest crime problem is some guy keeping five grams of pot in his house. I guess they will now put their sheriff’s tank on eBay.
(Via Reason.)
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