Posted on 02/26/2013 6:53:39 PM PST by DogByte6RER
Watertown father admits guilt for smashing up head shop
Watertown, NY -- A Watertown man has pleaded guilty to a criminal charge for smashing up a head shop after his adult son overdosed on bath salts from the store.
Dan Avery, 49, pleaded guilty Friday in Jefferson County Court to a misdemeanor charge of fourth-degree criminal mischief. He was sentenced to a one-year conditional discharge and ordered to pay $638 in restitution for the damage he did to Tebb's Headshop in Watertown.
Avery was charged in July with a felony count of third-degree criminal mischief and criminal possession of a weapon.
The plea deal was not unusual, Jefferson County District Attorney Cindy Intschert said.
"We certainly looked at all the facts and circumstances," she said.
Avery won't have to report to the court or a probation officer during his one-year conditional discharge, Intschert said. He's required only to obey all state and federal laws, she said.
Avery was arrested in July after he went to Tebb's the day after his 24 year-old son was hospitalized after overdosing on “glass cleaner” that he’d bought at Tebb’s.
Avery drove to the store from the hospital and asked the clerk if the store sold bath salts or glass cleaner, Avery has said. The clerk then showed him the products and instructed Avery how to use them, Avery said.
He told The Post-Standard in July that he "just went crazy" in response to seeing his son in the hospital. He smashed a glass countertop and a couple glass ashtrays, then threw glass pipes from the shelves at the store clerk, Avery said.
Afterward, Avery returned the bat to his truck, went back into the store and lectured the clerk.
"You're a sick man to sell this to these kids, knowing it's gonna twist their minds, " Avery remembered saying. "You're pathetic." Then Avery asked the clerk for a phone, called 911 and waited for police to arrive and arrest him, Avery said.
Tebb's owner, John E. Tebbetts, pleaded guilty in December to federal drug charges. Among them were three counts of possessing a controlled substance analog — a drug that's chemically similar to a controlled substance — with the intent to sell the drugs at his head shops. Tebbs faces up to 16 years in prison.
I have read several recent stories about “bath salts”, including particularly interesting stories about users eating people’s faces, but never knew what “bath salts” are. This is a pretty good rundown, from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bath_salts_(drug)
So not supporting illegal destruction of private property is “trolling”? Great value system you have! When are you due back at anger management? Unbelievable.
I think I identified with the father’s rage. I’ve
got a kid “out there” and find myself on pins and needles, wondering if she’ll be all right.
I get a little hot under the collar when people immediately jump the parents when a kid goes wrong. This world is nothing like the one I grew up in—far more perverse, licentious and it was hard even then.
You’re right to ask where the dividing line is,say, between shooting a car dealer who sold his son the Yugo he died in, and some guy who sold him the poison that derailed his son’s life. I think it’s partly a matter of proportion.
All things considered, I think the father did well:
1. He didn’t harm the people, just the merchandise
2. He exposed the nature of the man’s business resulting in its closure.
3. He did not flee, but as I recall, summoned the police himself.
4. He exposed his own shame and yielded to his punishment, perhaps in tacit recognition of his own part.
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