How do we control a waste of taxpayer resources? By not supporting the agency responsible
Undercover agents orchestrated three controlled buys of marijuana and have secured two convictions to show for their work. The convicted include a man in a wheelchair and his wife; the transactions were all for $40 bags. So much for reasonable expenditure of taxpayer resources.
BAYANET, Michigan’s Bay Area Narcotics Enforcement Team, on three separate occasions loaded a “confidential source” into a vehicle, planted money and drugs on them, and then sent them in to buy a tiny 1/8th ounce bag of pot from a disabled man, Ronald Shobe, at his home in Bay County.
Shobe’s wife was also charged; her plea deal is sealed, but she was sentenced to 78 hours of community service. Shobe, in his wheelchair, plead guilty to one count of delivering or manufacturing marijuana; in exchange for his plea, prosecutors in the case dropped a host of other charges including operating a drug house and conspiracy.
At the time of the raid, the Shobes had only $70 in their safe and less than 20 grams of marijuana. These people are not serious drug traffickers. Although an MLive report stated the confidential buyer was not a registered patient and Shobe was, the effort and expenditure made to secure these two convictions far outweigh any potential damage this man in a wheelchair and his wife pose to the community at large.
If this level of crime is what BAYANET chooses to spend their time on, communities that contribute officers or funds to the Team should rethink that strategy. Ronald Shobe, when sentenced by a Bay County Circuit Court judge, should receive the full leniency of law while facing the responsibilities of his guilty plea.
Source: The Compassion Chronicles
