Tigard, Oregon cops used “marijuana for sex” prostitution sting
Wednesday, August 12th, 2009 at 12:42 pm | By: Radical Russ
(Willamette Week) On April 13 this year, [Shawn Walsh] clicked into Casual Encounters and found this personal ad: “Tuesday is my Friday!! Wanna smoke and….;)”
The ad said a 23-year-old woman had posted it. Walsh clicked on the link and read more.
“Tuesday is my last day at work this week and I wanna party on Tues night!! I’m a hot blonde who has all the right moves.” The ad promised to trade those moves to anyone who could offer some “420,” or marijuana.
Walsh wrote back from his Hotmail account: “Hi how you doing my name is Shawn. I have some bomb 420 and would like to share it with you tomorrow night.”
They arranged to meet at 11 pm Tuesday, April 14, at an address on Southwest Hermoso Way in Tigard. Walsh made the half-hour drive from his home in Clackamas County west to Washington County.
When Walsh pulled his black Chevy pickup onto suburban Hermoso Way, he was surrounded by Tigard police. Officer Oddis Rollins, who had placed the Craigslist ad and written the emails, asked Walsh to step out of his truck.
Walsh had 3.5 grams of weed in his pocket—normally enough to earn him nothing more than a ticket. But because he’d agreed to trade drugs for sex, the cops charged Walsh with misdemeanor prostitution and delivery of drugs, a felony, and booked him into Washington County Jail. But Walsh insists he was just looking for a good time.
Careful if you click the link, because the story uses some NSFW language.
Tigard is a conservative, upscale bedroom community just south of Portland. (Coincidentally, I used to live blocks away from Tigard, and now I’ve moved near 82nd Avenue in Portland, the “Avenue of Roses”, or as I call it, “The Avenue of Ho’ses” for its reputation as the primary ho’ stroll in the city.) Personally, as George Carlin once remarked, I don’t see why selling is OK, sex is OK, but selling sex is not OK. I would just prefer that prostitution were made legal, taxed and regulated like it is in The Netherlands or Germany or Nevada or Rhode Island; once again, prohibition of victimless transactions between consenting adults does not eliminate the demand, it just criminalizes the supply and creates more public nuisance. (Strong disclaimer: this isn’t a NORML position, this is a “Radical” Russ opinion.)
One thing I have noticed, though, is that nobody is offering sex over the internet in trade for alcohol or tobacco. In a world where marijuana is a legal product, there is no incentive for police agencies to waste taxpayer dollars in a “weed for sex” sting. And it was a waste; the Washington County prosecutor made them stop the sting in May because they were producing cases they couldn’t prosecute, because they could not prove the men intended to engage in a prostitution transaction.
Foul.
Dirty business on the part of law enforcement, in posting an ad luring a guy in with a self described gorgeous blonde who wants to enjoy some cannabis with a lover! Surely we have better and more important duties for our officers than that in the city of Tigard. I doubt that a judge will be sympathetic to this particular law enforcement “ploy”.
Having said that, our hapless horny pot smoker seems to have evidenced a “child like guilability.” A Craig’s List hooker demanding heroin or tweak might have been a bit more believable.
So a eighth of weed n trying for a little pussy got him in that much trouble,ime sure they had his truck towed on top of all the other shit.My heart really goes out for that guy,hopefully that dude is single n he didnt lose his job.another reason they need to legalize it for recreational use.That cop is a first class dick like george bush.
I lived in Tigard for many years; the cops there are pricks!
Someone should post a horny chick looking for a good time and some doughnuts and beat the cops at there own sting. I’m sure they would get at least one Officer Shithead show up with a jellyfilled and a couple of sprinkled or glazed. Err, on second though we might get one of our own. Mmmmmmm Doughnuts! Nevermind!
I’ve been trying to shout it from the roof tops….Police in this country do use craigslist as a way to ENTRAPP people…I am a victim of it….and so are a few others in SE TN….Yes they promise sex …then at the last second they either try to get you to sell or buy drugs…….YES IT HAS HAPPENED TO ME……
OMG what is next, they tell us all marijuana is ok now and come get your permit to grow it and when you show up they put you in jail?
Oh they did that back in the 30s with Marijuana tax stamps!
See they are fighting every inch they know dam well public opinion is changing and thttehy have to make even more arrests to keep the lies and numbers going! Hopefully all this is just the storm before the calm! God help us all if Rep. Benton ever gets into a place of true power!