December 19, 2014

Police Officer Caught With Four Pounds Of Marijuana Won’t Be Charged

December 19, 2014
cops law enforcement special needs students entrapment

cops law enforcement special needs students entrapmentImagine that you are caught with four pounds of marijuana in your home by law enforcement. Barring some miracle, you would be arrested, charged, and likely go to jail for quite awhile and pay some hefty fines. That’s what would happen to the average marijuana consumer. There is one thing that could potentially stop that from happening – you are a cop.

A cop was dispatched to a UPS store to investigate a suspicious package that contained over four pounds of marijuana. Normal law enforcement protocol involves filling out a report and taking the marijuana to the station to be admitted as evidence. However, Officer Joe Avila instead failed to file a report, and took the marijuana home with him. I’m not an expert, but I’m pretty sure that’s illegal (insert sarcasm). Despite the obvious crimes committed by Officer Avila, he will not be charged with anything. Per Contra Costa Times:

A search warrant affidavit obtained by this newspaper shows that Avila picked up a box containing about 4 to 5 pounds of marijuana from a UPS store on Nov. 25, 2013. Avila then radioed a dispatcher to say that he would file an incident report.

Avila never did so, according to the search warrant. Instead, in what several police sources have said is a violation of Richmond police policy, the marijuana ended up in his Oakley home instead of being placed into a department evidence locker.

The matter came to officials’ attention after an officer was assigned in January 2014 to investigate Avila’s alleged failure to write more than three dozen police reports, the warrant said.

The Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office has been investigating since the case came to its attention earlier this year but is not inclined to file charges, said Robin Lipetzky, the county’s chief public defender. According to Lipetzky, the decision likely stems from evidence not strong enough to produce a conviction.

It must be nice to be able to break marijuana laws and experience no penalties when caught. Had Officer Joe Avila just been average citizen Joe Avila, he would be in the grey bar hotel right now. It’s stories like this that give law enforcement a bad name, and lead to allegations that some police departments are crooked.

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