Posted on 10/07/2004 7:40:11 AM PDT by the_devils_advocate_666
Marijuana appears to be a popular item to sneak into the Monongalia County Magistrate Courthouse these days.
At about 8:45 a.m. Wednesday, court officials reportedly apprehended a woman carrying a baggie of marijuana and a pipe, and trying to enter the courthouse located on the third floor of the building on Spruce Street in Morgantown.
Darris Summers, court administrator, said he found the drugs while searching through the woman's purse before she tried to pass through the court's security system -- a combination of a scanner and a hand search.
Signs posted throughout the courthouse explain that all people and the items they carry into the courthouse are subject to search.
The woman claimed she was in court to turn "the evidence in" and to drop a domestic battery charge against a boyfriend, Summers said.
Police aren't releasing the woman's identity because the incident remains under investigation by Mon County Sheriff's Department detectives.
"We're not sure if she was turning (the drugs and paraphernalia) in as evidence," Summers said.
On Tuesday, State Police Trooper J.C. Saurino arrested Travis Skibiel, 18, of McDonald, Pa., after a court officer allegedly confiscated marijuana from Skibiel's backpack when he tried to pass through courthouse security.
Summers said that, coincidentally, Skibiel was in court to pay a citation for possessing less than 15 grams of marijuana.
At about 2:10 p.m., when Skibiel entered court to pay his citation, court Officer Gary White began to search Skibiel's backpack.
"After White started searching the backpack, Skibiel asked for it back and said he had to leave and go somewhere," Summers said. "Then White found the drugs."
Magistrate Hershel Mullins arraigned Skibiel on another charge of possessing less than 15 grams of marijuana and released him on a personal recognizance bond, State Trooper Sgt. Chuck Porter said.
"You'd think he'd learn a lesson after getting in trouble once," Summers said.
Darwin Award.
The old line is , "why do you think they call it dope."
As Mr. Gump would say, "Stupid is as Stupid Does"
Pot's not legal? /sarcasm>
How stupid do you have to be? What are you going to do, blaze one in the judges' chambers and hope no one notices?
Pot .... slows .... the .... brain. Can you imagine the sinking feeling?
Oh well, so he has to pay another fine. Big deal. He probably considers it part of the cost of smoking dope.
"Your Honor...that's my skull."
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