Title: Man Kidnapped and Caged for Days After Cops Mistake Kitty Litter for Meth Read more at Source:
Free Thought Project/Forensic Resources URL Source:http://thefreethoughtproject.com/ma ... stal-meth/#uydUUiHsHkwSHsdV.99 Published:Jan 8, 2017 Author:John Vibes Post Date:2017-01-10 10:12:01 by Deckard Keywords:None Views:4219 Comments:34
Houston, TX — Ross LeBeau, of Houston, was recently cleared of drug charges after he was arrested for possession of Methamphetamine. It turns out that LeBeau was actually in possession of kitty litter, not meth. However, this made no difference to the cops who kidnapped and caged him for it.
Considering that there was nearly a half pound of the substance in his vehicle, the police thought that they had conducted the bust of the century. They even put out a press release with LeBeau’s mugshot to brag about the bust, after two faulty field tests determined that the substance was crystal meth. While LeBeau spent 3 days in jail, the kitty litter was sent to a forensics lab for further testing, and it was ultimately discovered that the substance was not meth.
“They thought they had the biggest bust in Harris County. This was the bust of the year for them,” LeBeau said.
“I was wrongly accused. I’m going to do everything in my power to clear my name,” he added.
Attorney George Reul pointed out that the department’s entire field testing system may be compromised.
“Ultimately it might be bad testing equipment that they need to re-evaluate,” attorney George Reul said.
Cases like this are nothing new, in fact, we report on them on a regular basis.
According to the national litigation and public policy organization, the Innocence Project, at any given time there are an estimated 40,000 to 100,000 innocent people currently locked in cages in U.S. prisons.
Couple this staggering number with the number of people locked up for non-violent drug possession and the United States looks more like the Gulag of the 1930’s than the Land of the Free.
But how can so many innocent people be locked up, how does the state present evidence, that it doesn’t have, to get a conviction? Well, the folks at the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the U.S., Marijuana Policy Project, made a short video that explains just how easy it is for police to turn an entirely innocent person into a criminal.
During the short video below, the researchers demonstrate how easy it is for police to generate a false positive during a field test for drugs.
The group tests over the counter Tylenol PM in a police test kit for cocaine — the test kit says the Tylenol is cocaine.
The group also tests the most popular chocolate in the world, Hershey’s chocolate, for marijuana, it also tests positive.
Perhaps the most disturbing test was when the group put absolutely nothing into the field test kit, and they received a positive result.
The implications associated with wrongfully accusing and then claiming to have evidence of an individual in possession of an illegal substance are formidable — to say the least. Most people are simply unaware of the fact that police test kits are a crapshoot.
The director of a lab recognized by the International Association of Chiefs of Police for forensic science excellence has called field drug testing kits “totally useless” due to the possibility of false positives. In laboratory experiments, at least two brands of field testing kits have been shown to produce false positives in tests of Mucinex, chocolate, aspirin, chocolate, and oregano.
In spite of these recommendations and multiple examples of innocent people being incarcerated for their error, police departments across the country continue to employ the use of these “totally useless” kits.
On May 8 of this year, Gale Griffin and her husband Wendall Harvey, who’ve been driving trucks together for the last seven years were wrongfully charged with possession of cocaine. They were targeted by incompetent cops who used criminally ineffective drug test kits on a white powdery substance found inside the couple’s truck. The kit identified the substance as cocaine. But it was not cocaine. It was baking soda Griffin used for stomach problems. However, they were caged for months while the reckless cops ignored their pleas of innocence.
Wenonah resident John Cokos recently settled a lawsuit against the Gloucester County police department for $35,000. The lawsuit comes after an arrest for drug possession because the officer claimed that his crackers were crack rocks.
In October, college student John Harrington was thrown in prison after police, with one of these field drug test kits, tested sugar, and came up with a false positive for cocaine.
We’ve also seen the case in which police mistook Jolly Ranchers for meth and jailed an innocent man. Love Olatunijojo, 25, and an unidentified friend purchased Jolly Ranchers at the It’Sugar candy emporium in Coney Island in June of 2013. Several blocks away, cops stopped and searched the friends and mistook the candies for crystal meth. Olatunijojo was then thrown in jail.
What does it say about police departments across the country who knowingly use test kits that will implicate innocent people in a crime that they did not commit that will land them in jail?
It is bad enough that the state will kidnap, cage and kill people when they possess a substance deemed illegal by the state. But, when they kidnap, cage and kill people because of their own negligence involved in testing someone’s personal items — they stoop to an entirely new low.
I arrested for MANY meth labs. Kitty litter is not a normal or common used ingredient to make any form of meth. The only reason I would think "kitty litter" would be stored by a meth maker would be to use as a fire extinguish method should they have a common chemical fire.
" The only reason I would think "kitty litter" would be stored by a meth maker would be to use as a fire extinguish method should they have a common chemical fire. "
As a fire extinguisher ? GI, would it not make more sense, and be more efficient to just keep a regular fire extinguisher if one is concerned about fire ? I don't know, that just seems more logical to me.
As a side note, I really don't understand the druggies consuming the stuff they do. And meth, considering the stuff they use to make it ( ex draino ) really, really, really STUPID !!
As a fire extinguisher ? GI, would it not make more sense, and be more efficient to just keep a regular fire extinguisher if one is concerned about fire ? I don't know, that just seems more logical to me.
You haven't discovered or investigated many meth heads, meth labs or meth related fires. There is NOTHING logical about what a meth addict will do. When high, they are more paranoid than a PAULTARD and more desperate than a heroin junkie.
I once found a methed out dipshit sleeping in his parked pickup truck on NYS land, snoozing next to his bubbling 2 liter soda bottle meth stove... common lab called "one pot". When I woke his ass up, cuffed him up behind his back, he had "meth bugs" so bad that he put his head between the tire and fender of his truck to itch his head.
And if you don't know what meth bugs are, it's a common term regarding the paranoia meth users experience... for they will scratch their skin until it bleeds because they think and feel they have critters crawling on them. They are enjoyable to watch. I always love the level of SERVITUDE a drug addict is willing to live... while the drug addict loving agenda machine (like Decktard) preaches about not living in servitude. lol
" There is NOTHING logical about what a meth addict will do "
On that, I agree.
Had never heard of the "meth bugs" . Sounds terrible! Years ago, the worst thing to encounter would be someone on "acid" or "Angel Dust". Would need a shotgun to bring them down.
I really have no sympathy for drug addicts. They are a danger to people they are around. There are too, too many of them around. That is why my family & I are always armed appropriately. And as you know, if one needs to engage one of them, better have something more potent than a puny .25 auto.
But at the same time, I do have sympathy for anyone falsely accused of being an addict.
I am glad we are out in the boonies, and out of the asphalt jungle. Oh, I know we have our share of the slimeballs on meth, etc, but per capita, I do not think we have as many as the urban areas. Plus, most here know who they are. And, we have a vast quantity of acres of uninhabited forests.
I wish there were a simple solution to the drug problem, but sadly, there is not. I have two nephews that are SC State Troopers. They are good young men, and have a very tuff job. I pray for their safety !
