Letroy Guion arrested on Marijuana possession & carrying firearm

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I'm for legal recreational usage..  But there is a difference in the mindset of a person who is willing to break the law when it only impacts themselves than there is someone who is willing to contribute to others breaking the law.

He's a blazer, I'm not doubting that. His dad, in the article, also said his son always brings him the best weed. I don't doubt he was planning on passing a bunch of the ganj around for a blowout party weekend, but it wasn't broken down for individual sale. Is distributing to your "posse" dealing?

"Is distributing to your "posse" dealing?"

No, I personally wouldn't have a problem with him supplying the party favors for a weekend jamboree.  (Again, not good decision making skills for a person with millions to lose) But when you consider all the facts here, including that Police suspect him of bankrolling local dealers, I think it's naive to believe that is the case. 

If he was still wearing purple, I doubt anyone here would be trying to find a loophole for him. 

Is selling crack cocaine an immoral law in your opinion.   I'm pretty progressive, but I'm not in favor of being able to sell drugs of this nature on the street.

A Starke police sergeant said in a deposition that informants told authorities Guion was involved in the drug trade and bankrolled dealers, some of whom were his relatives. The drugs sold included marijuana, cocaine and crack cocaine, according to Sgt. Jason Crosby's deposition in a forfeiture case involving Guion's truck and $190,000.

From reports, I think Guion bankrolled the Starke police.

These Narcos (Drug Detectives) always have CI's (Confidential Informants).   In this case, the Narco is reporting in the forfiture dispo that his CI has told him the Letroy is Bankrolling some local dealers.   It's also recorded in the dispo that he is known to bail them out after they get arrested.  

We are talking about people dealing blow and crack.

Is it possible the cop is lying?  Sure.   Is it possible his CI is lying?  Sure.    But I'm choosing to form my opinion on the word of this Officer providing a dispo under oath than I am the word of a lawyer whos client just got caught with a gun and 3/4ths pound of weed. 

= 64 cases of IPAs.   Less is better.  

Use to buy it by the pallet when I was stationed in Greece. Last time I checked, there are 365 days in a year.

that informants told authorities

the most untrustworthy and useless info that a cop can get.  notice they had this great info and yet never busted him...

quote:

The report details the SEMCA investigation that led to Sadek. SEMCA arranged for a confidential informant to buy a total of $80 worth of pot from Sadek on two occasions in April 2013 on campus.

The deals constituted Class A felonies, each carrying a maximum of 20 years in prison because they took place in a school zone, Richland County Assistant State’s Attorney Megan Kummer said.

in 1991 (21 yo at the time) I was living with a couple of friends in a house that we rented together.  One day there was a hard knock on the door immediately followed with someone yelling "go go go go!!!"

I had just enough time to stand up before I saw multiple camouflaged vested policemen with their guns drawn racing into our living room.

"get down, get down, get those f****** hands up right now!!!"

I was grabbed and thrown to the ground, held in place by 2 cops, one of them was cuffing my hands behind my back and the other had his knee pushing down into the back of my neck while he held the gun up against my head. 

I asked WTF was going on and gun cop told me to shut my f****** mouth.

About a 1/2 hour later the cops finally got us up and took us outside to a van and started asking where the crack was.  I was like "crack?, there's no crack here"  I had an 1/8 oz of weed that I had just purchased earlier that day, some bongs, 2 pipes and a dugout/bat.  I didn't do coke, crack, meth and I didn't sell pot which is what I told the officer, and he smiled and said "don't worry, we'll find it"   I was terrified to think that these cops were going to plant something in my home, I couldn't believe it could be happening to me.

Later that night in the police station, my lawyer came to visit and showed me the warrant, the following were all on that list.

crack

scales

coke

LSD

Marijuana

paraphernalia

large amounts of undocumented cash

guns

knives

I smoked pot (still do) but I didn't sell it.  I worked for $4.75 an hour so there was never any large amounts of cash.  No guns, no LSD, no coke, no crack etc.

My lawyer explained that there was an informant who provided all of that information which was enough to get the cops to grab my curbed garbage bags (which they found stems and seeds in) and then search them and then that was enough for them to get a warrant for my home.

The informant turned out to be an ex GF of mine who had got busted with stolen goods and decided to tell the cops a story about her old big bad boyfriend in exchange for a reduced sentence.  She received probation after being caught with stolen VCRs from local break ins.  (I found that info out from her current BF at the time)

I ended up getting a $600 fine, 1 year probation, and a long weekend in jail because the bail was set at $500 and I didn't have it.  They also trashed my house so bad that I couldn't get the security deposit back and shortly after the arrest my land lord kicked us all out.

Those police came into my home believing they were taking on a hard core group of armed dealers only to find a couple of unarmed dudes sitting around doing bongs.

Anyways, my point is simply F the police and F the informants.  They will say or do anything when it suits their needs.  I often think I was lucky that I had some drugs or they might have planted something worse on me to justify the raid.  There were 23 officers used to raid us, it took about 6 hours for them to finally leave my house.  All for a tiny little bag of weed and a 3 foot bong.  Anyone investigating me at all would easily have seen that there was no dealing going on in that house, we all worked and we were all broke. 

Not that every Iowacheese is a lying POS, I have met some really decent cops.  But the cop who led that investigation, he was all about the bust and was a total POS.  

I also lived across the street from a k-4 school, which the lead investigator said would be an automatic felony for dealing in a school zone.  Fortunately the Judge didn't agree. 

The newspaper reported the raid and said that drugs, cash and paraphernalia were all found.  They didn't say what kind of drugs, they didn't say the quanity, and they said that we were possibly armed.  B fn S

I don't know what the truth about Guion is but I learned a long time ago that the news and the police don't care much about the truth, they only care about a good story and what they can confiscate (seize).

Guion is probably lucky that they didn't just shoot him, they could have, and they would have probably gotten away with it.

I'm not in favor of punishing the user.  I'm in favor of punishing the supplier.   IF we ever progress to this mindset in the USA, the distribution would be regulated and controlled.  It wouldn't be Leroy bank rolling his uncle who cooks up some rock in the kitchen of his 1 bedroom apartment at the fabulous Everglade Vistas complex on MLK and D street.  

this one time, I was accused of murder my cheating wife and her lover.  I didn't do it of course, but I was still sent to prison.  Luckily, I am pretty bright and made some right friends.  I worked for the warden and some guard helping them do their taxes and stuff.  Because of this, and because I was a model citizen, they let me keep my rock hammer to work on my hobbies.  

One time, another inmate came in with evidence that I was innocent.  Of course, those crooked guards swept it under the rug because they wanted to keep my free services.  Rotten and corrupt to the core.    

Well, little did they know I was tunneling out of that hell hole the whole time.  I  crawled to freedom through five hundred yards of **** smelling foulness I can't even imagine, or maybe I just don't want to. Five hundred yards... that's the length of five football fields, just shy of half a mile.  

I have to remind myself that some birds aren't meant to be caged. Their feathers are just too bright. And when they fly away, the part of you that knows it was a sin to lock them up does rejoice. Still, the place you live in is that much more drab and empty that they're gone. 

Did you end up in Zihuatenejo with Red?

Unreal the lengths people will go to defend a person wearing the green and gold.

I have stories as well, a lot of them.  My work requires that I have intimate knowledge on how search warrants are written and granted.  I work directly with the people granting and executing them.   Frankly, (Best MM impression) I find it sad that because you can dig up one or two bad examples that you don't have trust in the justice system and in the majority of individuals who serve in it. 

Exceptions occur, reality is the majority of the time the police know who the bad guy is.   Bad guys know the law and how to avoid prosecution.  In this case, they are telling us that Letroy is a bad guy..  I believe them. 

quote:

Anyways, my point is simply F the police and F the informants.  They will say or do anything when it suits their needs.  I often think I was lucky that I had some drugs or they might have planted something worse on me to justify the raid.  There were 23 officers used to raid us, it took about 6 hours for them to finally leave my house.  All for a tiny little bag of weed and a 3 foot bong.  Anyone investigating me at all would easily have seen that there was no dealing going on in that house, we all worked and we were all broke.

Karma has sharp teeth. 

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IF we ever progress to this mindset in the USA, the distribution would be regulated and controlled.

In my house we call that Tuesday. Hayo!!!

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Frankly, (Best MM impression) I find it sad that because you can dig up one or two bad examples that you don't have trust in the justice system and in the majority of individuals who serve in it.

OK.  But some generalizations from the article are generalizations and not necessarily fact based.  Guion is also strikes me as a dumbass.   I don't doubt that some in Starke think he is a bad guy.  For what?  Is he

1) Beating his GF?  

2) Providing weed to his posse?

3) Bankrolling some bad dudes? 

If the answer is #2, I don't care.  If the answer is #1, he's a turd and get him the eff off my team and out of the NFL.  If it #3, provide some evidence.  I don't doubt that the effects of the drug trade are rampant in Florida.  On the other hand some of the greatest grievances with civil seizure have also occurred in Florida.  How has the article delineated that the intention of the $190k was for bankrolling vs. a dumbass NFL player helping out a poor family/friends?  The "experts" in Florida drug trade only used generalizations about the case citing.  There was NOTHING in the article that made clear the intent for the $190k.  Was it for family?  Was it for evil?  All we are left with is BS:

"Both legitimate or illegitimate monies may be intended for use in the purchase of illegal drugs," wrote Phillip Pena, circuit judge for the eighth judicial district. "It is simply the possession of such a large amount of money, no matter what the source, along with the totality of the surrounding circumstances that is strong evidence that the currency was intended to be furnished in return for drugs and is not typical of a legitimate business transaction." 

Strong evidence that isn't presented or ever intended to be presented in my opinion.

The problem with this article is that it isn't conclusive and unfortunately isn't ready to report. 

I'm up at 4:30 every morning.  I could post 10 times in a row. 

I think it is more like 4:20.

quote:

"It is simply the possession of such a large amount of money, no matter what the source, along with the totality of the surrounding circumstances that is strong evidence that the currency was intended to be furnished in return for drugs and is not typical of a legitimate business transaction."

this thread needs a metaphor

One or 2 examples??  there are thousands of examples thanks to the internet and smartphones that record video. 

Bad guys know the law and how to avoid prosecution - So do the police.

I'm not defending Guion btw, just stating that you can't always believe what the news or the police say.  For all I know, Guion is a POS. 

Exceptions occur, reality is the majority of the time the police know who the bad guy is.

What the police know is how to profile.  When I was younger, I was poor and drove ****ty cars and lived in cheap apartments.  I was constantly being pulled over back then, usually for BS reasons like driving too slow, too fast for conditions, no blinker etc..  I was always afraid of getting harassed by the police back then. 

After I went to college and got a good job and started dressing better, driving better cars and living in nicer homes, the harassment stopped.  I have been pulled over 3 times in the last 20 years and only received 1 speeding ticket.  I haven't been searched in the last 20 years either. 

When I was observantly poor I had been pulled over no less than 5 times per year and my car and I were searched every single time.

I'm just glad that I wasn't poor and a minority, being poor was scary enough.

500 yards is not "just shy of half a mile". 

For every 2 bad cop story there are thousands of good cops.  They perform investigations and execute search warrants by the book all day everyday.  You don't read about it because it's commonplace.

These guys get to know the neighborhoods just as well as the people living there.  Like I said, I'm taking the word of this Law Enforcement Officer over that of a guy who just got caught with a gun and 3/4 pound of weed.

Call me crazy.. I also don't think 9/11 was an inside job.  

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For every 2 bad cop story there are thousands of good cops.

Guion is a ****ing turd plain and simple.  With that said, there are more than a few exceptions and that's a fact because I bet a bevy of people on this board alone could write up stories.  I know I have a handful.

Has anyone ever been to ****ing Starke?  It's a ****hole and home to Florida State Prison.  I would bet the majority of drugs are going into that ****hole.  That whole area of North Florida is ****ing depressing.  It is crappy Old South mentality and my guess is Guion and his dealing is as much time honored family business as anything.  It reminds me of Randy Moss' alma mater "Rand University".  

Yeah, that last sentence is ****ing stupid.  I truckload of stupid.  You are a ****ing moron for making the comparison.

Get back to me when you've got a pulse on regional politics and how the prison business is becoming a great money making scheme.  Oh yeah, Chicago black sites.  It's all fantasy.  

Christ that was a ****ing stupid statement. 

I've known a ton of cops and there are many good people but I think it's more like a flip of the coin and depends on what day it is when you start talking about how upstanding law enforcement is on a regular basis.  There are as many turd cops making it hard for the good cops so lets stop with the fairy tale of how sooper dooper all law enforcement agencies are.  

I think we're all better off when we wake up to the fact that the system rends good intentions and beats it into submission for the needs of the system.  It is another offshoot of politics.  

This is why we talk about real reform and call a spade a ****ing spade, the drug war is a bust.  Guion is just one of the floaters in the punch bowl of fail.

This is the best post in the thread, next to mine, and maybe goalline's. 

It's this phenomenon which pains so much. Not just cops. Be it the military, the Intel community, the justice system and so-called public servants at national/state/local levels, and whatever, all supposedly dedicated to protecting the human condition. The priesthood, for crying out loud.

Having spent +30 years in the military and working for the Federal government since I was barely 18 I continue to be gobsmacked at how many individuals and institutions have just flipped their oaths of office on their head for individual and collective self-aggrandizement and in many cases enrichment. Yes I'm naive but that naïveté is one reason why so many enter service in the first place.

The good still outnumber the bad but these are organizations where there has to be a zero tolerance policy regarding corruption, favoritism, rule-breaking. There just has to be.

Agree 1000%.  I try to stay naive otherwise it's just a apathetic slide to the bottom.