Eight arrested in Michael Phelps case

[kpete]

Source: WISTV

Eight arrested in Michael Phelps case
Updated: Feb 10, 2009 05:20 AM

COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) - New details have emerged about a party where Olympic champion Michael Phelps was spotted.

On Feb. 2, a British tabloid published a picture of the 14-time Olympic gold medalist using a water pipe to smoke marijuana. The picture was taken at a party in Columbia back in November when Phelps was here for a visit.

The Richland County Sheriff's Department has been taking a lot of heat from people in this country and all over the world.

They want to know why Sheriff Leon Lott is going after Michael Phelps.

Read more: http://www.wistv.com/Global/story.asp?S=9814127

[tekisui]

1. That is fucking ridiculous.

:banghead:

AND IT'S CALLED A BONG!

[LostinVA]

4. Water pipes and bongs are different things

In VA, you can sell and buy water pipes, not bongs are illegal. I don't know the specifics, but I do know that they are two different things.

[tekisui]

7. It was a bong in the picture.

A bong uses water as a filter. Other water pipes are smaller, hand-held. The smaller ones are also called bubblers. The size and the straight chamber makes it a bong.

[MonkeyKnifeFight12]

10. Bongs aren't illegal

Bongs aren't illegal in VA. Or at least if they are it's not enforced because when i was in school i walked down to the head shop and bought one.

[PatrynXX]

23. Really big fucking joke. A-Rod's more in trouble than Mike.

What a waste of fucking money. Hello... it's pot. 3 month suspension is rather harsh for something this stupid. Bout as dumb as Trump getting that beauty pageant winner punted because someone put out some risque photos of here.


Reminds me of a story in the bible when Jesus says of the whore... Let the first person without sin throw the first stone.

Go ahead idiots. They must be without sin. Say how many people are arrested for jaywalking???

[LostinVA]

40. Tiy bought a water pipe -- they ARE illegal, as of 18 months ago, anyway

I know that in Charlottesville, the cops go into the head shops and go through the inventory making sure they are not bongs.

[ecalmosthuman]

17. Actually

a bong is a type of water pipe. So referring to a bong as a water pipe is not incorrect.

[Tunkamerica]

31. That's not true

maybe they can't be marketed as "bongs" but they aren't illegal.

[daggahead]

14. The picture I saw ...

only show Phelps with a bong held to his mouth. I didn't see any weed, a lighter, smoke, stash ...

Is possessing a bong, itself, a crime? It probably is in this F'd up country.

[Winterblues]

27. Ask Tommy Chong whether possessing bongs is illegal

Ashcroft sent him to jail for six months over bongs.

[Dr.Phool]

28. It wasn't possession. He was entrapped into shipping across state lines.

[crikkett]

33. He wasn't entrapped, his son was selling paraphanalia on a website using his name

and the stock was in his house.

It was persecution, to be sure, but I don't think it was entrapment.

[Winterblues]

41. Still to make an item illegal because you "might" use it illegally

Why not make guns illegal then also? The Turks use water pipes (hookas) for their special brand of tobacco. I am sure there are people around the world that use a form of bong or chello for tobacco. This assuming one to be guilty before the fact has to end.

[crikkett]

42. I don't disagree with you. I was simply correcting the dude above me.

[ixion]

46. I saw a documentary on it: it most certainly was entrapment

they were busted for selling product to someone in Missouri. That someone was a DEA agent that hounded them into selling. He actually went out there to pick up the product because they wouldn't ship to him.

It was an obvious case of entrapment. His son was the one who handled it, and he should have known better, to be sure.

[Romulox]

67. Joe Biden authored the law that they got Tommy Chong on, fwiw. nt

[wroberts189]

56. You have a legal mind my friend... it proves nix.

but I think they might have got a song bird.

[HillWilliam]

20. Actually, it's

"bhang", but Americans can't friggin' spell.

[Botany]

2. Good thing all the other crime in that county is stopped

:grr:

[Cronus Protagonist]

3. I'm hoping this will be the watershed that legalizes Cannabis

And taxing sales of all that Cannabis would solve the fiscal crisis overnight.

[NashVegas]

48. I Think It Could Help

Get a national debate going.

[wroberts189]

57. One would wish but I fear the insanity will continue. Hello Obama? nt

[shaniqua6392]

5. He should have just lied and said it was a Hookah pipe.

What a bunch of crap. He apologizes and there are some who just can not let go.

[Tunkamerica]

32. ? The picture clearly shows a bong

and you can smoke weed out of a hookah just as easily.

[tridim]

49. Same with aluminum foil or an apple

Let's make those items illegal too! :eyes:

[Pastiche423]

53. Don't forget empty toilet paper rolls!

[Captain Hilts]

6. Maybe they needed practice arresting white kids?

The two years Ilived in SC were my most miserable.

[jobycom]

13. Probably some honest truth in that statement.

If someone didn't pursue this, how would that look, when jails are full of African Americans arrested on drug charges? Law Enforcement is in a no-win here. If they pursue the charges they look fascist, if they don't they look racist.

[Captain Hilts]

22. One of the FIRST things Doug Wilder did as gov. was launch an anti-drug raid at UVA...

arrested a lot of rich, white kids.

It was kinda cool.

And, I'm white!

[Romulox]

68. The War on Drugs is "kinda cool"? nt

[Captain Hilts]

75. No, it isn't. But if you arrest a wide variety of people, there will be more pressure to rein it in

[Romulox]

82. I simply see no evidence to that effect.

I don't see any evidence that the War on Drugs has anything to do with popular opinion whatever. After all, the majority of people in America are already against Marijuana prohibition, but because there is so much money to be made, ending the War on Drugs isn't even a part of the national dialogue.

[izquierdista]

21. I'll agree with you

Except I had to endure it for 7.

[Captain Hilts]

24. Man, I'm sorry to hear that. We were a military family...

and the entire Charleston, SC legal system was designed to screw over blacks and military kids. The public schools were the 48th 'best' in the country.

A sailor got arrested for spraying on a billboard commemorating the city's bicentennial with "Congratulations Charleston for successfully resisting 200 years of progress." Mom wanted to help pay his bail.

It sucked.

Sub sailors said there was nothing like coming back from a long patrol, surfacing, opening the hatch and smelling...the Westvaco pulp mill.

[izquierdista]

47. I'll never forget

Going into the Winn Dixie one morning on my way to work, getting my sweet roll and juice, and going to the checkout line. The manager spotted me from his office on the mezzanine and almost broke a leg running down to open another check stand -- just for me! Then I noticed why he was apologizing so profusely: I was waiting in line behind a black woman.

[flakey_foont]

8. ah geez

young feller at a party takes a hit off of a bong......

OMG! The sky is falling,, it's the end of the world as we know it.

[snappyturtle]

9. Leon Lott must have a bunch of time on his hands. If this sheriff really

wants to 'help', why couldn't he have used Michael Phelps in promotions not to smoke pot? Instead he wants to prosecute. Makes sense to me. :sarcasm:

P.S. Personally I believe pot should be legalized. Grow your own with maybe a small license fee for the government folks. Lott is a waste of taxpayers' money.

[Royal Sloan 09]

11. Why condemn Phelps when we ought to condemn the laws that brand him a criminal

simple solution; Legalize

[rudy23]

62. That rationale was threatening to go mainstream, hence the aggressive actions towards Phelps

Our collective consciousness was starting to really open up towards legalization before the authorities ramped up the anti-MJ rhetoric through the media. Then people started to realize it was a serious offense after all, b/c the TV told them so.

[GDAEx2]

12. Time to stage a Smoke Out

Who's coming to Columbia for a Smoke Out?
Let's give the good Sheriff something to worry about!

:smoke:

[daggahead]

18. It happens every year in Ann Arbor, Michigan at the Hash Bash. n/t

[gabby garcia]

26. ah.. the hash bash!

I remember skipping high school and hitchhiking with my girlfriends from Detroit to Ann Arbor every April 1st, solely for that wondrous occasion.

good times.

[Dr.Phool]

29. I organized the first one in Cleveland in 1973.

We tried to get, then Councilman Dennis Kucinich to speak. He declined.

[Bluenorthwest]

15. Wowzer

These people are insane. What's the violent crime rate in that country anyway? If it isn't zero, Sheriff Leon needs to get his ducks in a row.

[KamaAina]

39. Freudian Post O' The Month!

What's the violent crime rate in that country anyway?

Remember, this is South Carolina, which had ideas about being its own country right up through the mid-1860s. :eyes:

[Mnemosyne]

81. Exodus/secession is ongoing. Link:

http://christianexodus.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=section&id=9&Itemid=66

[get the red out]

16. The idiot sheriff

Probably gets drunk at the bar with the boys but feels an overwhelming need to go after Michael Phelps.

What a waste.

[wroberts189]

59. You can bet he is probably corrupt as a 3 dollar bill as well.

imho

[SayitAintSo]

71. No he is'nt ...I live here - 2 blocks from the "bong house" actually...

Lott is a very good, well respected sheriff. One of the best.

Focus on the "bad laws" - not the enforcement.

[stewert]

83. Hey wroberts...........

My private message reply is not working, e-mail me at [e-mail]

Steve

[EC]

19. How can they prove from a photo

that there was actually pot in the bong? Only hear-say...they can't see how they can even bring charges...

[laconicsax]

25. Phelps said that there was pot in the bong.

They don't need to prove from a photo when they have his words.

[bertman]

30. What if it was actually oregano or some other plant matter that looks like pot?

Is Phelps a chemist? Can he legally certify that it was cannabis sativa that he was smoking? Can you be arrested for WISHING you had been smoking real pot?

Just wonderin'.

[Tunkamerica]

35. I think you can.

If you're caught trying to buy drugs and they turn out to be fake, you don't automatically get off. I seem to rmember an episode of cops that had that exact situation. I may be wrong and it may be jurisdictional but my understanding is that the intent to break the law is more important than whether the law was actually broken.

[gabby garcia]

76. if one were to imbibe many drinks

and then go driving, have a car crash, refuse a breathalyzer, get arrested, and then discover that all the alcohol you thought you had been drinking had in reality been replaced with a placebo, then you might only be charged with reckless driving (if the accident was your fault) and not driving under the influence, regardless of your intent to get drunk and then drive.

[Nevernose]

80. That depends on jurisdiction

In Nevada, for instance, there's a special criminal code for buying, selling, and/or possessing any substance one alleges to be an illegal drug. So if I sell you an aspirin and claim it's ecstasy, I'd face the same penalties for actually selling ecstasy. To make it more confusing, the law specifically includes possession, so if I were carrying a little baggy full of oregano, I could face marijuana charges. Part of the law is obvious (selling drugs is evil), partly it exists because demanding a chemical analysis of every drug taken in every bust would be a huge expense, but mostly I suspect it's because cops don't like having their time wasted.

Of course, if they'd just legalize the shit and sell it out of the pharmacy to begin with...

[wroberts189]

61. The AP retracted that story .. he never admitted ANYTHING but poor judgement.

found the link.... not the AP retraction but what he said:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gav61lYnY-W3nlJteKSkTVKT6buAD9649UMG0

[laconicsax]

65. I stand corrected.

[2Design]

34. SNL Zeth said it was a 'dick' who took the picture and sold it

rather than enjoy meeting a Olympic medalist - it is amazing what enemies can do for greed -

[crikkett]

36. This is what happens when people publish photos like that.

The only good side to this is that it refutes the image of the loser stoner.

Phelps is the opposite of 'loser'. (Although the photographer IMO is the epitome of loser).

[2Design]

37. This is linsey grahams state , right? enough said n/t

[Are_grits_groceries]

38. Leon Lett is an idiot.

Here is what he spent some Homeland Security money on:

The Richland County (S.C.) Sheriff's Department has acquired an armored personnel carrier complete with a turret-mounted .50-caliber belt-fed machine gun for its Special Response Team.
He calls it the "Peacemaker."

I live in SC and have to put up with a Governor (Mark Hoover-Sanford) who is trying to take the state into a depression. He was doing it before everything was sinking. Then there are the Senators - Grahamster and DeMinted.

As far as a light jail sentence, they will probably "find" some mess that will put him under a RICO charge, and bury him under the jail. You heard it here first. People just crazy.

[montanto]

43. Dead link. Who was arrested and why?

[underpants]

44. Okay tell me please that these kids got rid of everything they had

please tell me the got rid of everything that ever touched anything that touched pot

:eyes:

[wroberts189]

54. Sounds like they did not :(

[hootinholler]

63. LOL, Well they tried...

It was just reported on the local news one of them tried to sell it on EBay. :rofl:

Asking was $100K. Gotta admire the moxie. Teh stoopud, not so much :rofl:

-Hoot

[underpants]

74. One can imagine that that decision was the result of an idea

that started with "DUDE!....."

[DinahMoeHum]

45. Leon Lott - "King Shit Cop" - standing on a brick to kick a duck

in the ass.

:evilfrown:

[superconnected]

50. These people are scaring me. Nobody is getting mugged or murdered there?

How much are they spending on this while everyone else is cutting state budgets and laying off police?

[wroberts189]

55. I have been asking that question for over 25 years. eom

[marshall]

51. I'm amazed they would use a British tabloid photo as cause to arrest somebody

In the end the legitimacy of this photo would have to be established, and I don't see how they can do that. Even if the tabloid coughs up the identity of the person who sold them the photo (which isn't likely, unless it's already listed in the article) they would have to not only prove that the photo is untampered with, but also have to prove that it is in fact Phelps and that he was doing something other than just holding the thing up to his mouth.

I guess cops can arrest on all kinds of things that obviously won't pass muster in the court, but somebody in the department or the DA's office has the responsibility to stop a waste of tax dollars here.

[wroberts189]

52. and the article says they got search warrants as well.

sounds like they scared someone into singing... or just said the hell with it as they usually do and write the warrant after.

[marshall]

64. They need to get their hands on the camera

It's asinine even discussing it, but if they want to give this any merit to go forward they need the camera (I assume it's an electronic camera) with the original photo intact in the memory. If the clock is set properly on the camera they would be able to figure out when the photo was taken.

Then I guess they would also need the bong in question to test for marijuana residue. The photo I've seen doesn't show the part where the product is burned. Perhaps other photos that weren't published show more clearly if in fact marijuana was in the thing.

It's brings to mind Ken Starr and the Lewinsky fiasco, but even in that clusterfuck Clinton was sitting pretty until the blue dress with his spunk showed up (not to mention that charges were essentially dropped when the Senate didn't convict). How likely is it that this bong has both marijuana residue and Phelps's DNA on it?

[rudy23]

58. They're going after Phelps b/c he single handedly refutes all the anti-MJ propaganda

He's accomplished
He's healthy
He's not braindead

After the photo came out, even conservatives in the media were saying, "well gee, maybe this shouldn't be illegal"

If they don't go after him hard, big pharma will be brought to its knees by medicine you can grow yourself, which is better and safer than dozens of meds on the market.

[Froward69]

70. Hear Here!!!!

[Rob Gregory Browne]

60. I was always under the impress it's illegal to POSSESS

pot, not smoke it. I haven't been keeping up on this thing -- do they have proof of actual possession? Or that there was actually pot in the pipe? Or is the only evidence a photograph?

[crankmob]

66. stranded on a planet of apes..

[Froward69]

69. Oh dear lord!!

Ok everyone Subway must be our official Food from now on!!!

Even the Bong is in custody...:crazy:

[endarkenment]

72. This would be funny except that it is not funny at all.

Legalize it. Stop the madness. Way past time to start doing the right thing. It is time for change.

[Zorra]

73. And mass murdering serial killer war criminals like Bu*h and Cheney roam

around free.

What kind fucked up "civilization" are we living in?

[lonestarnot]

78. No shit!

[NM Independent]

77. That Sheriff has some nasty karma coming his way.

That's the only thing that can calm me down about this. Maybe his kid will get busted in the next county over, or something.

[depakid]

79. If anyone ever needed another reason to stay out of South Carolina