Posted on 01/27/2006 7:05:48 PM PST by wjersey
UPPER DARBY, Pa. -- An Upper Darby teenager was arrested Friday on drug charges, but police said that it was his arsenal and the setup of his drug operation that really surprised them.
Upper Darby police got a tip about a suspected drug dealer and went to a home on West Chester Pike. Police found 19-year-old James Jenkins in the bathroom getting ready for school.
Police said that when the searched Jenkins' house they found a cache of weapons -- including three loaded guns -- one pound of marijuana, body armor, a bulletproof vest and a surveillance system.
Officers said Jenkins could have seen police coming with the surveillance system if he had been in his bedroom.
Jenkins told police that they were lucky they found him in the bathroom.
"I truly believe, if we weren't lucky enough to find him in the bathroom, with his surveillance system, it could have been tragic," said Lt. George Rhoades.
Jenkins' parents told police that they did not know what was going on in their son's bedroom.
Police said that all of the attention feeds into his fantasy of a gangster lifestyle. In fact, he had a picture of famous gangsters in his bedroom.
One of the guns -- a loaded .357 Magnum -- was found under Jenkins' pillow.
"This handgun was registered to and belonged to a Thomas Wood," said Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood.
Wood was a leader in the Hells Angels motorcycle gang. He was shot and killed in January of 2005 in South Philadelphia. Police are trying to determine how Jenkins obtained Wood's gun.
"He was ready for war. He's 18-years-old. He's a high school student who portrays himself as a gangster. Well, guess what? He lost," Chitwood said.
BAN ALL GUNS THAT IS THE ONLY WAY WE CAN KEEP THIS FROM HAPPENING!!!!
Un-frigging-believable!
"Jenkins' parents told police that they did not know what was going on in their son's bedroom."
Isn't that what Harris and Klebold's parents said too?
I think Thomas Wood may have been clean in say 1952 when he purchased the handgun, but in 1968 had better things to do like...riding? The gun has been registered for decades and lost for the same.
It's the Son Of Otis .
The Donut God.
Praise be the Holey one.
Thats why the govt stacks the charges. Ive seen individuals get life for conspiracy and that means they only thoutght about wanting to do something something.
Looks more like the next Pee Wee Herman if you ask me.
Was he the only one in the bathroom when they caught him?
WTF is with the silly grin?
Exactly what was this darwinite doing in the bathroom when they busted him?
You can laugh about "only" three guns, but I tell you, one look at this clown tells me that I am glad he is not going to have the opportunity to go postal with "only" three guns.
With "only" three guns, he could kill "only" fifty or sixty people, if he's having a streak. Yeah, he might miss a lot. But he might not miss a lot. Thank God we won't find out.
Strange. I would have blamed the bowtie.
Sounds like a typical Saturday night in my old, wild days.
I LOVE that song...I really like The Offspring, too!
I LOVE that song...I really like The Offspring, too!
Not clear that any grief was intended. Everything he did, including the pound of MJ, would have been completely legal 100 years ago. All his crimes are mallum prohibitum, not mallum in se.
No indication he was even selling the MJ, it could have been his (admittedly large) personal stash for himself and his friends.
Now I don't a bit that the kid is a little sh**, but things have to be put in perspective.
Sounds nice and detached and clinical and all, except that it seems pretty clear that the kid was a whack job. I kinda doubt he was seen with the local NRA league, IDPA team, or CMP club range.
I wouldn't be shocked at all if the neighbors found stuff their cats killed, random windows shot out, and so forth, nor would I be at all surprised if they find a "list" in his room.
Not everyone who owns a few guns is a good guy. Guns are value-neutral. They are things. Just as they are not "evil", they are not "good" either -- nor does ownership of a few guns make a clearly antisocial kid "good".
The only thing they make him is "lethal", should he decide to go down that path.
Considering the previous owner of his handgun, I'd say he's hanging around suffiently unsavory characters to make it not unlikely that he'd go down that path too.
I'm sure I'll catch flack from the (pro) drug warriors and "Big-El" libertarian types. Good thing I don't care.
For the record, I've seen an awful large variety of "slice of life" in my many decades on this earth. I've seen everything -- up close and personal -- from politicians and Wall Street millionaires (self-made and "old money") all the way to "outlaw bikers" (close enough to have ridden "back seat" on their Harleys when I needed a ride). I've seen the good, the bad, and no, I'm not gonna lapse into total cliche, sorry. :)
I'm no priss who's looking down from his whitebread tickytack box on "real people". I've seen it all, and I've formed my opinions, and I've learned to trust my judgement -- and I think I'm a fairly decent judge of character. My proof? I'm still alive -- which is more than I can say for some of my friends from way back when. That's good enough for me. Maybe I am a "goody two-shoes" deep down inside. I never did time -- never "did the crime" either. But like I said, I've seen enough. More than most -- except for cops in "th' city" -- and "the bad guys" -- and guys who did ministry in bad neighborhood "coffeehouse" places.
Oops, I just outted myself. :)
Seriously, this kid looks like bad news on wheels, and I'd much rather read about him being frogmarched with a silly grin from ear to ear than hearing about him being holed up in some high school with bodies littering the halls.
That'd be bad for his victims, bad for society in general, and, dammit, bad for the RKBA, which really doesn't need any more crap of that sort heaped on its rep. (Even this bust is bad enough, and will give some ammunition to the anti-Second Amendment loons.)
Un-frigging-believable!
It's entirely possible that they knew just enough to know that they didn't want to know any more, y'know?
I've seen situations like that. "It happens in the best of homes!" (Oh, the tales I could tell... I've seen some stuff that'd... well, I can't go naming names, and that's half the fun, so I'll stop now. :)
Did they make him good? Of course, you could join him in the inevitable all male environment of prison, you would like that...
But, if all of the "fifty or sixty people" were armed, how many could he kill?
"Did they make him good? Of course, you could join him in the inevitable all male environment of prison, you would like that..."
That will surely make him a better person for when he gets out in a year or two.
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