Michael Phelps isn’t the only one getting into trouble for his now infamous bong photo. The 23-year-old took responsibility for his actions and never denied that he was the one in the photo. However the county sheriff’s department that has jurisdiction over the home where the party was held definitely doesn’t think that’s enough, and they’re trying to go after Phelps. That’s resulted in a lot of outrage, with people pointing out that they weren’t arresting any of the other folks involved in drug use at the party. So now the sheriff’s department is remedying that as well, and has just arrested eight people connected to the bong photo.
New details have emerged about a party where Olympic champion Michael Phelps was spotted… The Richland County Sheriff’s Department has been taking a lot of heat from people in this country and all over the world. They want to know why Sheriff Leon Lott is going after Michael Phelps.
Many are saying the sheriff should concentrate on more serious crimes, or at the very least, not focus solely on the Olympic champion when there were others at the party who were also breaking the law.
Now it appears the case has expanded beyond Phelps’ activities. The party took place in November at a house on Blossom Street near Five Points. It was at that house where someone snapped the photo of Phelps taking a hit on a marijuana pipe called a bong. Lott says the picture indicated a law was being broken in his jurisdiction. He said he couldn’t ignore the violation just because Phelps is rich and famous.
We’ve now learned that since investigators began trying to build a case, they’ve made eight arrests: seven for drug possession and one for distribution. These are arrests that resulted as the sheriff’s department served search warrants.
We’ve also learned that the department has located and confiscated that bong. Sources say the owner of the bong was trying to sell it on eBay for as much as $100,000. The owner, who wasn’t even at the party, is one of the eight now charged. Phelps is not one of those charged at this point, but the sheriff’s department has strong evidence that matches the photo to the house on Blossom Street.
[From WIS News 10]
When asked if he thought Phelps should be prosecuted, South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford told Fox News, “I don’t see what it gets at this point.” That’s a perfect summary of this whole thing. Most people have an opinion about pot, and I tend to understand both sides of the issue. But how does prosecuting anyone over this help?
Obviously the sheriff wants to send a message, but I can’t help but wonder if what he really wants is attention. There’s the whole issue that Phelps is supposed to be a role model – and again, that’s something you could argue either way. But in terms of criminal action, it seems excessive and unwarranted, not just in terms of Phelps but for everyone involved.
This is RIDICULOUS.
It’s a bong he did once with some friends.
Come around complaining when he’s running a meth lab out of his house.
But seriously…it’s just some weed. Most Americans have tried it at least once. It’s really not a big deal.
Heck, in Berkeley, you can just walk around with a joint and no one cares.
this is madness. it’s only pot. *sigh*
maybe he did it to keep off crack.
The problem is, regardless of your position on the issue, it’s still illegal, and therefore subject to prosecution. I don’t think the Sheriff’s department is seeking publicity, per se…they’re doing their jobs, regardless of their personal feelings on the issue. My husband is a prosecutor, and as much as he thinks marijuana should be legalized, he still has to prosecute these types of cases…he doesn’t like it, but that’s the law as it stands, and his job is to ensure the law is followed.
Dear lord, that is just blowing it way out of proportion. I agree, Annie, I lived in Santa Cruz and smoked in front of cops and they don’t even bat an eye. I guess it just depends on where you do the deed.
Rofl! I wouldn’t be surprised if you had told me they asked to bum a hit off it.
HAHA thats what they get idiots.
Empty jails aren’t profitable. OF COURSE they’re going to prosecute something so stupid. The war on drugs makes big, big money for government.
i hope they arrest the douchebag that took the picture of him and sold it in the first place. im sure he was there toking too.
how is this even going to hold up in court? This is SO stupid. Couldn’t a lawyer argue the contents of the bog? How do they KNOW it was weed? What if it was oregano?
that would be *BONG* not bog. Thank you.
@ Jen…your husband and others in a position like his are the ones that need to take a stand. Just because something is illegal, upholding it doesn’t make you in the right. Just think of Nazi soldiers, guards or even US cops upholding the laws against interracial relationships, we look upon them w/disgust now.
I’m NOT hating on you, just saying what I feel to be true, change needs to come from people like you. (well, like your hubby ) peace
Unfortunately, lawyers don’t make the laws, cara. Politicians do. The prosecutors have *some* discretion when it comes to how individuals are charged and subsequently sentenced, but they don’t get to pick and choose which laws to enforce.
And as someone mentioned earlier, the “War on Drugs” is a big bucks industry, particularly for politicians…and that’s not likely to change any time soon.
You nailed it Cara! Why if you think something is wrong are you going to do it anyway. Especially something like ruining someones life over pot. And that is what prosecution for pot does, it ruins peoples lives. Try to get a job after that. Pot PROSECUTION ruins lives.
I don’t think that they will be able to prosecute based on a picture. They don’t have the “green leafy vegetable substance” that was in the bong. Does anyone know anything about the chain of possession of the picture–bc it could have been doctored. I just feel like this is full of holes. But maybe not. I practice civil law, not criminal, and haven’t thought about criminal law at all since I passed the bar!
SNL had a pretty good “Really?” skit about all this.
Can you imagine all the man power involved in this investigation? Off of a photo? GMAFB.
Isn’t there a woman being raped right now that needs this attention? Or a child being abused by his parents? Come one. There are far worse ILLEGAL things going on right now than a dude who took a bong hit 3 months ago.
Oooh, Manda. I like they way you think. I’m sure they were smoking cloves or tobacco.
My view of law enforcement has become a little cynical in recent times so I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest the Sheriff is in this for publicity purposes. Horrible to think I know.
I agree, the entire thing reeks of “circumstantial”.
How many murders and burglaries are taking place during this investigation? One would think a college house party would be pretty low on their list of priorities.
What a complete waste of time and resources on the police’s part.
If I paid taxes in that city, I would be outraged they were investigating this and not child molesters.
LOL @ Manda “green leafy vegetable substance.” I read police reports all the time for work and they always say this. Is this something they teach at police academy for sheltered cops with little real world experience?
Meanwhile, in California, rapists and god-knows-who-else are being released from prisons due to overcrowding.
email LLott@rcsd.net
How about the voyeur scumf*ck who triggered this sudden knee-jerk righteousness and pointlessly ruined 9 other lives?
Thats the one & only remotely intelligent thing my govenor has EVER said. I never thought I’d agree with Mark Sanford. :shudder:
The sheriff’s office can do what they want and in this case with all the press they want to prosecute. I do think it is about the press this sheriff will receive.
Smoking pot is not illegal. Being in possession of it is. They have to prove you are in possession. A picture doesnt prove that. The other arrest were probably due to them being in possession at the time of being arrested. The cop can smell it all they want but unless they find evidence of possession they cannot convict you. With that said, the Sheriff in my opinion is just after publicity in this case.
hear hear, Brian!!
Devil’s Advocate here: In defense of the sheriff, I submit that he was forced to go after Phelps due to public outcry, so maybe he just got fed up with having to single out one person and decided to get ’em all. Maybe he thinks its only fair play and is not just seeking publicity. I’m all for it. Why should Phelps be the only one to suffer the consequences? Sheriffs by and large do not do things just for publicity.
Pot should be legal.
Love the header photo 😀
What a waste of taxpayer’s money and resources. The sheriff ought to be ashamed.
It pisses me off to no end that my tax dollars are being used to prosecute and imprison people for smoking freaking POT!
Violent criminals are going free and we’re ruining good people’s lives and wasting scarce law enforcement resources over pot posession. Idiocy.
It’s sad that peoples lives can be ruined for enjoying a plant. Much less a plant that doesn’t require manufacturing or processing to be made use of. Our healthcare industry will shove much more harmful subtances into our systems with pain medication. Our mental care providers will test many drugs on you that have bad side effects like numbness in the flesh, lack of sexual drive, rashes, nausea and even liver disorders over the periods of years people are meant to take them…and if you talk to one who gives you the medicine he doesn’t even know if its going to work for you..its a trial and error procedure.
Just another case of greedy American polotics that has nothing to do with the views and beliefs of the people in this nation. and you know the only reason people who smoke marijuana aren’t doing anything these days? Because people refuse to hire them based on being misinformed. If all the people who smoked weed were able to work, do you think we’d be in this recession right now? Yes…i’m going to continue smoking weed. its my GOD GIVEN right. I submit enough of my own freedom to this misguided country’s policies…it could be worse…i could be out drinking and driving.
OH PLEASE. a photo of a guy holding a bong. Release ze Kraken!
Dear Barack: Please stop this nonsense.
Matt, here!here! I’m with you on that. I just learned that one cannot get medical treatment at a federally subsidized clinic for low income people if a urine sample shows a trace of THC. Meth & cocaine; just skip a day or two and you get health care – smoke a joint a week ago and you.are.out. Raging alcoholic: Good to go.
It’s not just the medical care, it’s the jobs that can’t be got if there is a trace of THC in one’s system. I’m eternally pissed over the situation.
I didn’t think you could be prosecuted over a picture of you smoking weed. I think they have to catch you with the substance. I can see the issue for the warrant after the photo for the others and then catching them with pot. If they didn’t have pot, they couldn’t be arrested for smoking weed in a picture. So, Michael Phelps I don’t believe can be arrested unless they catch him with weed.
Um, not that I would know first hand, of course, about that whole THC medical care thingy. But I do know somebody!
Hey….Do you really think that a stoner could have won all those gold medals? Me thinks that who took the pic just was a hater and wanted to make major $$$$$$$. So if’s it’s good enough for President Obama to try, then it should be good enough for Mr. Phelps.
Dear Americans:
As a Canadian, I completely do not understand your obsession with weed as an illegal substance?
What’s the worst that could happen if you smoke it?
You have an exaggerated appetite and no motivation? Sleep a lot?
What is your culture’s obsession with persecuting people who get high?
I don’t even like weed personally, and yet I see no problem with it.
He has to smoke pot. I mean, sure, a billion gold medals and all the free Big Macs a boy could eat but…he’s looked in a mirror before. He needs some distraction from his cartoon-like proportion. If they ever made a movie of his life, they’d get this guy to play Phelps.
Thank God they’ll be getting those people off the streets. We all know what a terrifying menace to society those pot-smokers are. All the laughing, singing, eating, sleeping…it’s just frightening.
Bros, I agree. The only person they should be arresting is the prick who released the photo. On charges of felonious douchery.
O.k. so for everyone that says it’s illegal, End of story. I want to remind u that at one point it was illegal for blacks to go into certain restaurants etc., women to vote & ppl were at one point drowned because they were thought to be witches. Maybe it’s time for some progress on this issue, because “it’s just illegal” doesn’t seem to be working, AT ALL!
Are you kidding me? This whole thing is just plain stupid. Marijuana should be legalized and we can tax the hell out of it, pay off our national debt, create tons of new jobs for people, empty out our overflowing prison beds and just get mellow.
Sounds like a plan, Barb. It’d be interesting to say the least. Then Casey Affleck and Juaquin Phoenix ( I obviously have no idea how to spell his first name) could work it into their mockumentary.