ITT: News that makes you pop a blood vessel

[NorvTurnerOverdrive]

Sick: Young, Undercover Cops Flirted With Students to Trick Them Into Selling Pot

Last year in three high schools in Florida, several undercover police officers posed as students. The undercover cops went to classes, became Facebook friends and flirted with the other students. One 18-year-old honor student named Justin fell in love with an attractive 25-year-old undercover cop after spending weeks sharing stories about their lives, texting and flirting with each other.

One day she asked Justin if he smoked pot. Even though he didn't smoke marijuana, the love-struck teen promised to help find some for her. Every couple of days she would text him asking if he had the marijuana. Finally, Justin was able to get it to her. She tried to give him $25 for the marijuana and he said he didn't want the money -- he got it for her as a present.

A short while later, the police did a big sweep and arrest 31 students -- including Justin. Almost all were charged with selling a small amount of marijuana to the undercover cops. Now Justin has a felony hanging over his head.

so. angry.

[Ksyrup]

Now THAT sounds like an obvious case of entrapment. I thought part of the standard was whether they were pre-disposed to whatever the criminal activity was that the officer induced them to commit.

Of course, I believe that's only a defense, so it wouldn't stop them from arresting and charging him. But it should get the charges dropped, if true.

[Lonnie]

Since when is a quarter bag a felony? Especially when she didn't pay for it.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Trashy kids won't get nearly what they deserve, but good on the cops.

[NorvTurnerOverdrive]

Originally Posted by Lonnie

Since when is a quarter bag a felony? Especially when she didn't pay for it.

i'm sure it has something to do with being on or near school property.

[albionmoonlight]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Trashy kids won't get nearly what they deserve, but good on the cops.

Tell that to the woman who was mugged for lack of a police presence while these cops were spending weeks encouraging kids to commit crimes so they could get a cheap dime-bag bust on their records.

Entrapment isn't just a defense to prosecution. It's bad public policy. I want my tax money going to prevent crime, not to creating it.

[DanGarion]

[Logan]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Trashy kids won't get nearly what they deserve, but good on the cops.

Jon, we all expected this exact reply, you really could have done much better.

[illinifan999]

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight

Tell that to the woman who was mugged for lack of a police presence while these cops were spending weeks encouraging kids to commit crimes so they could get a cheap dime-bag bust on their records.

Typically the officers that are involved in undercover operations would not be on patrol anyway....

[spleen1015]

Jon, what you would think if they pulled this stunt with your son?

[Suicane75]

Does it really matter what else they would have been doing? I can think of about 100 things a trained police officer could be doing with all that time, and all that money spent, then busting kids for $25 worth of pot.

It's the height of ridiculousness and frivolity and an utter waste of taxpayers money. But have no fear, the state will now probably spend 5x that amount in prosecution expenses. Good job.

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by spleen1015

Jon, what you would think if they pulled this stunt with your son?

There is no reasoning with Jon this way. Trust me I've tried that in the past.

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by illinifan999

Typically the officers that are involved in undercover operations would not be on patrol anyway....

Then maybe money should be spent on patrol officers instead of wasting money on undercover officers who spend an entire year trying to convince a kid to buy a bag of pot.

[Autumn]

Originally Posted by Suicane75

Does it really matter what else they would have been doing? I can think of about 100 things a trained police officer could be doing with all that time, and all that money spent, then busting kids for $25 worth of pot.

It's the height of ridiculousness and frivolity and an utter waste of taxpayers money. But have no fear, the state will now probably spend 5x that amount in prosecution expenses. Good job.

It's not even so much that it's just for $25 of pot. It's that they're sending undercover cops posing as teens in a high school. That's an ethical can of worms they really don't want to have opened. Frankly, I'd be pissed if I found out some 25 year old was attending classes with my kid pretending to be a high schooler, no matter what happened next.

[Logan]

"She made it pretty clear that I would get a handy if I got her the pot" seems like an easy out.

[Suicane75]

Well to be fair, a hot 25 year old pretending to be my friend for a month probably would have high school much more awesome for me. I'd probably even be willing to pay a fine for the spank bank material. But I digress.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by illinifan999

Typically the officers that are involved in undercover operations would not be on patrol anyway....

Whew!

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by spleen1015

Jon, what you would think if they pulled this stunt with your son?

My girlfriend's testifying against me because she's an undercover cop, but that's cool, because I knocked her up and now my dad's making me marry her!

[stevew]

Pix plz k thx.

[Ksyrup]

[Suicane75]

Hot!!

[Ksyrup]

They sent Trudy in first, but after a year and no arrests, they went with plan B above.

[Rizon]

Is this story even true? I Googled it, and there were only 12 pages. Nothing from a legitimate news agency. It reads like propaganda.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by Rizon

Is this story even true? I Googled it, and there were only 12 pages. Nothing from a legitimate news agency. It reads like propaganda.

I was wondering the exact same thing, Rizon. I couldn't find it in any legit-looking news sites. Seems a little fishy...

[Ben E Lou]

A little digging shows that the article was written by the Director Of Communications for the Drug Policy Alliance. Headlines on their web site include "Obama's War On Pot." Hmmmm....

[stevew]

It was on This American Life, so therefore it has to be true.

[Ksyrup]

Last year at three high schools in Palm Beach County, Florida, several young police officers were sent undercover to pose as students, tasked with making drug arrests. And this, this is the setting for a love story, reported by Robbie Brown. Robbie works for The New York Times in Atlanta. (13 minutes) (13 minutes)

I guess this could have been a radio/TV report only, but I searched a 378 article archive of Robbie Brown articles on the NYT site, and nothing comes up.

[Rizon]

Originally Posted by stevew

It was on This American Life, so therefore it has to be true.

Also at uglyuglyugly.tumblr.com/

So for sure true.

[Suicane75]

Great, now my fantasies of things that never happened turns out to be untrue.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by Suicane75

Great, now my fantasies of things that never happened turns out to be untrue.

Doesn't that make you pop a blood vessel?

[Autumn]

This is just viral marketing for 21 Jump Street I guess.

[molson]

Originally Posted by stevew

It was on This American Life, so therefore it has to be true.

I don't even see it in the This American Life archives.

[Rizon]

Ok, this might be true. Here is good ole Justin.

Local Story

The kicker is probably "CHARGE: MARIJUANA-SELL - WI 1000 FT OF SPECIFIED AREA SCHED I". That sounds like the law here; if you get caught selling drugs within 1000 feet of a school, you are toast.

I can see how he got busted though. She was hot and "light skineded".

Not the first time our homie Justin has been in trouble. Also got nailed for grand theft of motor vehicle in 2011.

edit: Actually, these are two different Justins. Same name, both in Florida, similar charges, but different birthdays.

[Suicane75]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Doesn't that make you pop a blood vessel?

Ironically I did pop a roid today.

[Rizon]

Originally Posted by molson

I don't even see it in the This American Life archives.

457: What I Did For Love | This American Life

[stevew]

Originally Posted by molson

I don't even see it in the This American Life archives.

Act Two. 21 Chump Street. | What I Did For Love | This American Life

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by Rizon

Is this story even true? I Googled it, and there were only 12 pages. Nothing from a legitimate news agency. It reads like propaganda.

They talked about it on NPR last week or earlier this week. I consider them legitimate.

[Rizon]

Originally Posted by Rizon

Ok, this might be true. Here is good ole Justin.

Local Story

The kicker is probably "CHARGE: MARIJUANA-SELL - WI 1000 FT OF SPECIFIED AREA SCHED I". That sounds like the law here; if you get caught selling drugs within 1000 feet of a school, you are toast.

I can see how he got busted though. She was hot and "light skineded".

Not the first time our homie Justin has been in trouble. Also got nailed for grand theft of motor vehicle in 2011.

edit: Actually, these are two different Justins. Same name, both in Florida, similar charges, but different birthdays.

Ah, here he is

http://www.arrestcentral.com/justin-laboy/

Edit: Jeeze, that other Justin Laboy is a crazy mofo.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by spleen1015

Jon, what you would think if they pulled this stunt with your son?

I'd tell you exactly what I've told him: you get mixed up in that shit, you brought it on yourself.

My policy is very simple: get busted once, do time. get busted twice and it ought to be a capital offense.

edit to add: And just so there's no mistake, whether it's my kid, your kid, or Bill down the block's kid my answer is exactly the same.

[Drake]

The fact that it took a hot 25-y.o. cop a year to get a 17 y.o. kid to buy her pot tells me more about her mad policing skillz than his penchant for crime.

Srsly. And by the way, if I found out that a 25 y.o. tramp was exchanging sexual, flirting banter with my minor child, I'd file charges.

[RainMaker]

It's marijuana, who gives a fuck? Palm Beach County has a shitload of real crime that it's pathetic they are wasting resources on entraping teenagers into buying pot.

Then again it's Florida so what can we expect.

[JediKooter]

Hey, if I was a teenager and I thought getting some hot chick a joint would get me laid, I would have been getting a lot of joints for a lot of chicks back in high school.

[Rizon]

Dang, when I was a teenager it was cocaine that got you laid by hot chicks.

[thesloppy]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

I'd tell you exactly what I've told him: you get mixed up in that shit, you brought it on yourself.

My policy is very simple: get busted once, do time. get busted twice and it ought to be a capital offense.

edit to add: And just so there's no mistake, whether it's my kid, your kid, or Bill down the block's kid my answer is exactly the same.

As a child of the 'Just Say No Era' I think you're positioning yourself to have a very well-behaved kid in the house for 18 years, but may pay for it dearly when he leaves home and discovers that his reality outside your doors may be vastly different than what you described to him. What's going to happen if your kid decides not that he likes weed, but just that he doesn't care if other people do it.....would he discuss that with you, or would he hide that simple opinion from you, out of fear? Then again, he might never sway from your ethics.

...and that's not necessarily meant as a criticism. Though I don't necessarily agree with your views on drug use or users, I am still very glad that I went through high school rabidly anti-drug and anti-alcohol, and I certainly don't think kids with developing brains (even high school age) should be using drugs of any kind in an ideal world. That said, an integral reason I was that way in high school, was that I was just parroting my mom's rabid anti-drug attitude, and once I got out on my own, and saw that (in my estimation) my mom's reality was so far from the truth, that not only did I then disregard everything she (and most other authority figure) had beat into my skull about drugs, I set out to define reality for myself, through first-hand experience. Basically her passionate anti-drug stance kept me out of that stuff in high-school, and drove me headfirst into it, almost as soon as I was out of the house. Are you prepared for that possibility?

[NorvTurnerOverdrive]

Originally Posted by JediKooter

Hey, if I was a teenager and I thought getting some hot chick a joint would get me laid, I would have been getting a lot of joints for a lot of chicks back in high school.

if a pretty girl wanted enriched uranium in hs i would have got it for her. goddamn hormones.

i don't hold teenage boys accountable for much. particularly if there's a vagina involved.

[johnnyshaka]

Originally Posted by thesloppy

As a child of the 'Just Say No Era' I think you're positioning yourself to have a very well-behaved kid in the house for 18 years, but may pay for it dearly when he leaves home and discovers that his reality outside your doors may be vastly different than what you described to him. What's going to happen if your kid decides not that he likes weed, but just that he doesn't care if other people do it.....would he discuss that with you, or would he hide that simple opinion from you, out of fear? Then again, he might never sway from your ethics.

...and that's not necessarily meant as a criticism. Though I don't necessarily agree with your views on drug use or users, I am still very glad that I went through high school rabidly anti-drug and anti-alcohol, and I certainly don't think kids with developing brains (even high school age) should be using drugs of any kind in an ideal world. That said, the reason I was that way in high school, was that I was just parroting my mom's rabid anti-drug attitude, and once I got out on my own, and saw that (in my estimation) my mom's reality was so far from the truth, that not only did I then disregard everything she (and most other authority figure) had beat into my skull about drugs, I set out to define reality for myself, through first-hand experience. Basically her passionate anti-drug stance kept me out of that stuff in high-school, and drove me headfirst into it, almost as soon as I was out of the house. Are you prepared for that possibility?

Interesting, so you are blaming your mom's stance against drugs and alcohol for your drug and alcohol issues as a young adult? Seriously?

[JediKooter]

Originally Posted by NorvTurnerOverdrive

if a pretty girl wanted enriched uranium in hs i would have got it for her. goddamn hormones.

i don't hold teenage boys accountable for much. particularly if there's a vagina involved.

Yup, that sums it up pretty well right there.
Teenage boy+hormones+vagina=instant stupidity and or lack of thinking ahead.

EDIT: Heck, who am I kidding? 40 year old man+vagina=do stupid stuff.

[EagleFan]

So there's only one side to this story?

[thesloppy]

Originally Posted by johnnyshaka

Interesting, so you are blaming your mom's stance against drugs and alcohol for your drug and alcohol issues as a young adult? Seriously?

Nope. Sorry if I presented it that way. My decisions are/were my own. That said, I don't think we really need to argue/clarify whether parents' (especially passionate) beliefs can affect their children's actions (even through young adulthood), do we?

[johnnyshaka]

Originally Posted by thesloppy

Nope. Sorry if I presented it that way. My decisions are/were my own. That said, I don't think we really need to argue/clarify whether parents' (especially passionate) beliefs can affect their children's actions (even through young adulthood), do we?

Most certainly they affect their children's actions...and so they should and that's why I agree with Jon's statements. Show your kids what's right and wrong and make sure they completely understand the consequences...not just at home, but in the "real" world, too. If those "warnings" aren't enough of a deterrent then hopefully their first interaction with the law will be.