From the San Diego, CA Union-Tribune:
Accidental 911 call leads deputies to pot
An Alpine man who didn’t realize he’d called 911 on his cellphone let a sheriff’s dispatcher in on his conversation about a drug lab and plans to lure a deputy into a fight or a pursuit, authorities said Tuesday.
Deputies traced the call to a home on Lobelia Road and found 93 marijuana plants inside and outdoors, sheriff’s Sgt. Kirk Thomson said. Three men there were arrested.
“They vehemently denied calling 911 until we called his phone back, and showed him on his phone where he had called us,” Thomson said. “Then the expletives flew.”
What happened:
The trio were driving through Alpine about 11:30 p.m. Monday when they spotted a deputy in his marked patrol car parked on Victoria Drive. The deputy was eating yogurt, but his presence made the three nervous, Thomson said.
“When people are on meth there is a lot of paranoia,” Thomson said.
Coincidentally, one of the men pushed a programmed button on his cellphone that called 911 without him knowing it. A dispatcher overheard men talking about narcotics and items used to make “honey oil,” slang for hash oil extracted from marijuana. They also talked about returning to the deputy to get him into a fight or a 100 mph chase, Thomson said.
They drove to the home on Lobelia, nearly a half-mile away from where the deputy was, and seconds later the phone was shut off, Thomson said. Deputies traced the phone through a nearby cellphone tower right to the trio’s door. About 75 young marijuana plants were found indoors and nearly 20 more were on a patio and in a greenhouse.
Heh - not just paranoia, it's rampant stupidity in play here.
Tip of the hat to Peter at Bayou Renaissance Man for the link.
Leave a comment