(Palm Beach Post) MARATHON, Fla. — Monroe County deputies say a ransom note left in place of seized marijuana plants lured out a suspected grower.
According to a news release, detectives left a note with a phone number in place of the six large plants that read: “Thanks for the grow! You want them back? Call for the price.”
Steven Alan Locasio called the number about 10 minutes later. Locasio offered $200 for the plants, and detectives agreed to meet him for an exchange.
Locasio was arrested after he gave deputies the money. He has been booked into Monroe County jail on drug charges and was expected to appear in court Tuesday. It’s unclear if he already has an attorney.
Right away I think I’d be suspicious if someone was offering to return to me six plants for $200 that could yield perhaps $10,000 worth of bud. Who kidnaps pot plants, really? There’s much more profit to be made in just selling them! Now the cops have him not only on manufacturing and conspiracy to manufacture and possession, but also intent to purchase. Remember growers, if your crop gets ripped, you can always plant another crop soon enough.
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You’ll have an easier time proving slander in court than entrapment. Police have every right to bald-faced lie to your face in an investigation, but if you lie to them, it’s obstruction of justice. And in this case, they didn’t even lie – they did have the plants and were offering a $200 ransom.
isn’t that entrapment, seriously that’s like a speedy decoy car pushing you down the road then a cop pulling you over ya they got the argument you could have pulled over/not call but still.
I can see how some people might have a hard time walking away from this situation. But its prob the best thing to do.
I wonder how police can even do this, you would think they would just await his return and arrest him for the plants, this is going into a whole second step, just to put the screw to this guy? When did it turn to not only arrest simple drug consumers to now trick them into greater charges to ruin their lives even more than they will be? When is it cops jobs to try and destroy someone, to make it worse on them or for them to choose whom they do this too? They say they just follow the law well where does that law allow for them to make up more charges by tricking people into it. They might as well call folks and ask them inf they lost $500 and to come get it when they get there arrest them for stealing money that wasn’t theirs, in this economy who wouldn’t show up for the money they were told was theirs?
This is a stupid stoner story on the guy’s part but under that its a real sign to me that cops do know that the War on drugs has failed but are choosing to continue this failed policy no matter how many, even a majority, don’t want them to! We have to expose these cops when they do this stuff, to make lives more difficult when in reality they should be there the kelp us to support communities, gee to Protect and Serve?