Archive for August, 2008
“They bound me and forced me to kneel in the corner … My mother-in-law was bound on the kitchen floor.”
Tuesday, August 5th, 2008More details on the pot raid at the home of the Berwyn Heights mayor.
ABC 7/NewsChannel 8 obtained a copy of the search warrant authorizing the search and seizure, but it does not appear to allow the kind of ‘no-knock’ entry employed by the SWAT team.
Patrick Murphy, the chief of the Berwyn Heights police, has reviewed the document.
“There is no permission from the judge to treat this as a no-knock warrant. There is no affidavit of probable cause,” Chief Murphy said. “The mayor demanded that they show him the warrant and they never did so.”
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Sources tell ABC 7/NewsChannel 8 reporter Brad Bell that police believe the mayor and his family had nothing to do with the marijuana. Investigators suspect the package was supposed to be intercepted by someone else, before delivery, according to the sources.
The Masturbation? The Drugs? The Car? The Kangaroos?
Monday, August 4th, 2008I’m not sure which of these elements is most important in this inconceivable wonderful, better-than-fiction report from Australia’s Northern Territory:
A TERRITORY man filmed himself speeding at 150km/h while masturbating at the wheel of his drug-laden car, a court heard.
His Holden SV6 was allegedly laden with 5kg of drugs, including two cannabis plants resting on the back seat, the court was told. Brendon Alan Erhardt, 39, was granted bail so he could marry his girlfriend of six months before he goes to jail.
Prosecutor Sergeant Melinda Edwards said in court the father-of-three told police he “had masturbated while driving” just before he was stopped for speeding on the 130km/h stretch of the Stuart Hwy. ”(He) also video recorded himself masturbating while travelling at a speed of 150km/h.”
Sgt Edwards said Mr Erhardt — who was disqualified from driving — also told officers his act was “not dangerous” as the “only person he could hurt was himself”. Darwin Magistrates Court heard Mr Erhardt was stopped by NT police 25km south of Daly Waters on July 16 for allegedly speeding at 147km/h on his way home from Adelaide.
Police noticed he was “visibly agitated”, and when they told him they were going to search his Holden sedan, he said “go right ahead”, Sgt Edwards said. It is alleged that officers found 4.96kg of cannabis hidden in a blue esky in the boot, two cannabis plants on the back seat, two drug pipes and a loaded .22 rifle.
Sgt Edwards said Mr Erhardt was arrested and told officers he had “found” the drugs at a rest stop 100km north of Coober P (more…)