ITT: News that makes you pop a blood vessel

[NorvTurnerOverdrive]

Sick: Young, Undercover Cops Flirted With Students to Trick Them Into Selling Pot (http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/789519/sick%3A_young%2C_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]

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]

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]

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/RLoKtb4c4W0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Logan]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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

http://s3.sidereel.com/episodes/314311/featured/181135.jpg

Whew!

[Ksyrup]

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]

http://static.tvguide.com/MediaBin/Galleries/Shows/M_R/Ra_Rh/Reno911/season1/reno-911-mclendoncovey03.jpg

[Suicane75]

Hot!!

[Ksyrup]

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

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.aoltv.com/media/2006/07/reno911.jpg

[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]

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 (http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/people/b/robbie_brown%20/index.html). 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]

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]

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]

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 (http://florida.arrests.org/Arrests/Justin_Laboy_5502002/).

Local Story (http://www.cbs12.com/articles/-4732402--.html)

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 (http://www.mugshots.com/US-Counties/Florida/Seminole-County-FL/Justin-Laboy.html).

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

[Suicane75]

Doesn't that make you pop a blood vessel?

Ironically I did pop a roid today.

[Rizon]

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

457: What I Did For Love | This American Life (http://www.thisamericanlife.org/play_full.php?play=457&act=2)

[stevew]

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 (http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/457/what-i-did-for-love?act=2)

[DanGarion]

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]

Ok, this might be true. Here is good ole Justin (http://florida.arrests.org/Arrests/Justin_Laboy_5502002/).

Local Story (http://www.cbs12.com/articles/-4732402--.html)

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 (http://www.mugshots.com/US-Counties/Florida/Seminole-County-FL/Justin-Laboy.html).

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.

[thesloppy]

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.

I absolutely agree with that statement. However, Jon's statements in this thread include literally that kids should be put to death for pot possession, not "Show your kids what's right and wrong and make sure they completely understand the consequences, at home, and in the real world". You don't see a disconnect there? Anyhows, as mentioned we've already beat this horse to death a million times, and I'm certainly not bringing anything new to the party, my apology for derailing the thread.

[Buccaneer]

I absolutely agree with that statement. However, Jon's statements in this thread include literally that kids should be put to death for pot possession, not "Show your kids what's right and wrong and make sure they completely understand the consequences, at home, and in the real world". You don't see a disconnect there? Anyhows, as mentioned we've already beat this horse to death a million times, my apology for derailing the thread.

I have lived longer than you and have heard the anti-drug message ever since the early 1970s. In all of those years, I have not experienced much difference between family life and "real life". If one is grounded and have been brought up with love, integrity and character, then going out to the "real world" shouldn't cause you to suddenly change what you have been taught. Still haven't done any drugs, never wanted to because it's stupid despite society's glamorization of them.

[thesloppy]

Again, I'm not disagreeing with that, and just to be super-duper clear, I wasn't at all arguing against telling kids not to take drugs, either. I'll just retract my original statement, and I apologize for not articulating my thoughts better. I don't wanna get pushed in the corner and have to argue against parental/family values and for teen drug use, or discredit my upbringing or Jon's child-rearing, because that wasn't my intent in the slightest. Sorry.

[Autumn]

To defend what I think was thesloppy's point, research has shown that parents who lay down the law on drugs, sex, whatever, in an authoritarian way do not have the long lasting impact on their children that they want. People do in fact have a great deal of trouble as young adults if they were parented by fear of disobeying, rather than understanding the rules.

A great deal of strict rules is *only* effective if it's paired with a great deal of explaining those rules, devoting time and attention to the child, and having a reasonable and flexible approach to the rules that takes into account the child's side of things. Children with parents like this sometimes experiment with drugs but rarely get hooked. Children of authoritarian parents often don't experiment early, as thesloppy says, but as young adults have not adopted the reasoning of their parents, and once outside of that authority,experiment more heavily and can become addicted.

That's well demonstrated by research. Strict rules are very, very important in parenting, but they only work if they're paired with the attention, affection and flexibility, which I find a lot of parents forget about.

[Buccaneer]

That's well demonstrated by research. Strict rules are very, very important in parenting, but they only work if they're paired with the attention, affection and flexibility, which I find a lot of parents forget about.

Not mention love, integrity and character. :)

[Autumn]

Right. My point is simply that it's not all one or the other. The fact that you received that message, with love, integrity and characer, made it stick. If presented in an authoritarian fashion, it most likely would not have. Children who are simply scared into staying away from drugs don't develop the understanding and willpower to stay away long-term.

[TroyF]

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.

Pretty much this. Look, if there really is a large drug ring at a school, I have zero problems with the cops going undercover and filing charges. IF and that's a big IF the story is true, I'm stunned at the ineptitude of the police in this situation. You manipulate a 17 year old into falling in love with you so he gives you pot? Seriously?

I was an awkward geek in HS. Had an attractive girl started spending a lot of time with me and made an emotional connection, I would have done just about anything for the girl. No, I wouldn't have hurt someone for her. I wouldn't have stolen. But if she wanted a little bit of pot or alcohol? Give me a break.

Go to any school in the country and you'll find more than a few kids like I was. But I'm the guy that society should be worried about? I mean if your a ref and are sensitive to message board posts, I'm certainly not on your Christmas card list. But a felony charge? This is abuse of the law. And believe me, as a parent I would go through all of those text messages and if there were ONE where a 25 year old was sexting up my kid? That small felony would cost them more than they ever dreamed.

[Young Drachma]

The best part of this thread are all the statists rushing to the defense of this shit. Government is bad, except when it's doing shit they approve of.

[TroyF]

The best part of this thread are all the statists rushing to the defense of this shit. Government is bad, except when it's doing shit they approve of.

Look, to be fair, it goes the other way too, right? Government is terrific until the it starts violating your rights. Perfectly acceptable for government to hand out welfare, but if they decide to drug test it's time to flip the hell out.

The government should stay out of our lives, unless it involves regulating gay marriage, then it's ok.

I don't think the left or the right can hold themselves up as beacons of consistency. Hell, I don't think I can do it all the time and I can slide from left to right depending on the issue at hand.

[Ben E Lou]

The best part of this thread are all the statists rushing to the defense of this shit. Government is bad, except when it's doing shit they approve of.Who are "all" the "statists" rushing to defend it?

[NorvTurnerOverdrive]

it's liberal media rocket fuel to be sure. no reasonable person thinks they set up a sting to ensnare honor roll students. but it's problematic for a thousand other reasons.