As many as eight people have been arrested on drug charges in an effort to build a marijuana possession case against Olympic swimming champion Michael Phelps, an attorney for one of the defendants confirmed this morning.
Longtime Columbia attorney Dick Harpootlian said Richland County Sheriff’s deputies arrested his client – whom he declined to identify — in a raid Saturday at his Lake Murray-area home after seizing a small amount of marijuana.
“He’s sitting there on Saturday, and 12 cops kick in the door with guns drawn, search his house and find 5, maybe 6, grams of pot,” Harpootlian said.”They never asked him, ‘Who sold you the pot?’ … They were asking, ‘Were you at the party with Michael Phelps? Did you see him using marijuana?’ It was all about Michael Phelps.”
Harpootlian, a former solicitor for Richland and Kershaw counties, said in his entire legal career he had “never seen a search warrant executed for simple possession of marijuana.”
[D]eputies seized four laptop computers, a desktop computer and a computer storage drive from his client’s home — supposedly to try to find evidence against Phelps, Harpootlian said, adding they refused his request Wednesday to return the items to his client.
Under South Carolina law, possession of one ounce or less of marijuana is a misdemeanor that carries a fine up to $200 and 30 days in jail for the first offense. Possession of drug paraphernalia is a $500 fine.
And in other, less important crime news from Richland County, South Carolina:
Richland County (WLTX) – Richland County deputies are searching for a suspect they say robbed a bank Wednesday.
The incident took place February 11 at 12:15 p.m. at the South Carolina State Credit Union at 7438 Broad River Road.
Investigators say the suspect entered the bank and presented a note demanding money. Officers say after robbing the bank, the suspect left the building and drove off in a burgandy or dark red Suzuki SUV.
Yes, but did the suspect have a bong?
At age 65 and still tokin’(since age 15),I am saddened by all the ‘hubbub’ over Phelps. In fifty years NO common-sense has been learned by the ‘powers’ about cannabis. It’s medicinal values (over legalized alcohol & tobacco-which have NO values)alone are worth legalizing the herb. The sense-less criminalization of small amounts for personal use is insanity running amok. They want to make Phelps an ‘example’- this is ‘power’ running amok-this HAS TO STOP! What has to happen for this insanity to stop? BC
All I can say is that this fame craving maniac of a sheriff needs be put down, not literally ofcourse. His whole investigation overshadows the casey story in which a child was brutally slain. This is the sad thing about America as fame always precedes importance. Why aren’t we talking about sheriff dingbat’s personal armoured killing machine? This guy is a joke and is dying for attention in little old Richmond south Carolina. I just think that a substance such as marijuana, that has been PROVEN to cause ZERO deaths by it’s use, is still persecute by the mentally challenged in law enforcement. Think back to the 70s when these old farts were downing bong rips and all there was was LOVE! I think this so called enforcer needs to step back and think about his country before his own fame. F*ck you sheriff Lott.
Don’t be sorry, great context. I had forgotten about the Giuliani connection down there.
Hi Radical Russ and fellow stash readers,
I’m a former resident of Richland County (Columbia) and I still follow the news down in S. Cackallack.
People should know a couple of things. Harpootlian used to be head of the SC State Democratic Party. The dude is a Big Deal.
Another thing people ought to know, just for context, is that the former elected state treasurer, Thomas Ravenal, a fiscally conservative Republican was arrested by FBI last year on possession of under 500 grams of cocaine. I forget how long his sentence was but he’s in prison (and out of office) now.
That incident was even bigger news than it would’ve otherwise been b/c the guy was, at the time, co-chair of Rudy Giuliani’s Presidential campaign in South Carolina. Giuliani, in addition to being “America’s Mayor” for his performance after 9/11 and his amazing success in reducing violent crime in NYC, was an awful anti-pot crusader. Basically, Giuliani made no distinctions between any illegal drugs and had an “incarcerate ‘em all” policy. Since NYC has a police force of about 40,000, this did not make NYC less safe–it just made us less free.
Anyway, after Treasurer Ravenal’s arrest in Charleston, SC, there was a brief debate about drug law reform in SC’s largest newspaper. Everyone was against it. South Carolina is, in this regard, an incredibly backward place. Now, I have a lot of love for those folks. But they’re hopeless on this issue. Sure, lots of Sandlappers do drugs. They’re just perfectly okay with the hypocrisy of putting EVERYBODY in prison.
Sorry for this long and rambling post. But I hope it adds some context to the politics of drug policy in SC…