Shopping list leads to arrest (be careful what you buy....)

[The Straight Story]

PEKIN, Ill. — A Pekin man went shopping for a mixture of suspicious items Wednesday and now sits in jail on felony drug charges.

Cody Leveque, 23, of 2005 Market St., was charged Friday in Tazewell County Circuit Court on one count each of participating in the manufacture of a substance containing methamphetamine and possession of materials to make the illegal drug. Bond was set at $50,000.

Employees at the Kroger store in Pekin alerted police Wednesday that Leveque had just purchased items including a gallon of Coleman fuel, five boxes of Diamond Head matches and a box of pseudoephedrine, all of which are substances used in producing meth.

Using the employees’ description of Leveque’s car, police found him standing outside it and recovered the items.

http://www.pekintimes.com/news/x536400945/Pekin-man-faces-meth-charges

[Warren DeMontague]

1. ***

[drm604]

8. LOL

:rofl:

[pacalo]

12. Hahaaa!

[alcibiades_mystery]

15. LOVE!

:-)

[Initech]

16. Better call Saul!!

[Warren DeMontague]

31. "I had a good job, until my boss accused ME of STEALING!"

http://www.bettercallsaul.com/

[Initech]

39. Sometimes you need a criminal attorney and sometimes you need a *CRIMINAL* attorney!

[lunatica]

29. I can't wate for Walter and Jesse and Skyler to come back!

Skyler now being one of them.

[Warren DeMontague]

30. I know. That show is just amazingly well done.

Pretty friggin' engrossing.

[EC]

2. Sounds more like he was going camping or ice-fishing

he only bought one box of cold tablets, so what were they thinking? Did they think he was just making a little meth for himself?

[pipi_k]

4. Could be, but...

Let's just say that's what he claimed..."I'm going ice fishing".

The cops say, "Oh that's nice...where ya going?"

Him: "Uhhhhhh...uhhhhh....ummmm....."


I think the cops have every right to be suspicious at that point and to question him further, checking his ID for prior arrests/convictions.

[pipi_k]

3. I think the title is misleading...

and the article is incomplete.

For example, the article makes it sound like the guy was immediately accosted, the items seized, and he was arrested for no good reason other than for what he bought.

What probably happened was that the police found him, questioned him, could not get a sensible answer to their questioning, perhaps were even given a couple of different stories, leading them to become suspicious, after which they ran a check on him and found he had prior arrests/convictions.

Now, if he had bought all those items plus a sleeping bag and Coleman lantern and/or stove and some ice fishing gear and said he was going on an ice fishing expedition, then maybe he wouldn't have been arrested.


We don't have to be careful of what we buy. Unless what we buy looks suspicious and we have no sensible answer to the question, "What are you planning on doing with these items?"

[ret5hd]

5. What if your sensible answer is "piss off"?

[pipi_k]

20. OK I just checked with a retired cop on this

Apparently, a person has the right to say "Piss off" and then leave and there's nothing the cop can do without probable cause.


So even though the article didn't say, I'm assuming the cop must have asked and the guy, instead of saying, "Piss off" probably got nervous and started acting strangely.

From there, I would imagine things went downhill during the questioning, which gave the cop probable cause to arrest the guy.

[hfojvt]

26. I was gonna go with "none of your effing business"

I think yours is a little too confrontational. But I think they already have probable cause.

[former9thward]

7. Your post illustrates how easy it is to have a police state in the U.S.

Here this guy purchased in a legal manner items which are legal. Yet you expect him and any other citizen to have to give "sensible" answers to the police about legal purchases. If the answers aren't good enough for the police or your papers aren't in order then off to prison for you. Maybe we should just station police at every check out at every store. Then they can go through your bag and make sure you have nothing in there that is out of order. It would create alot of jobs.

[pipi_k]

21. I think you misunderstand...

You have the right not to answer.

But if you're going to answer, don't do it in a way that gives the police cause to doubt your story.

[former9thward]

23. Well I do agree with you there.

90% of criminal defendants tell on themselves and that is all that is needed for a guilty verdict. All a defense attorney can do it try to lighten their sentence in a plea deal.

[MedicalAdmin]

10. Hmmmmm.

What if someone decides that posting on DU is a criminal offense?

What will your sensible answer be?

[pipi_k]

22. Um, I think you don't get it...

the guy wasn't arrested because of the items he bought.

[lapislzi]

19. My sensible answer: "Am I under arrest? Am I free to leave?"

Then: "I will not answer any questions until I have consulted with an attorney."

It's nobody's damn business what I do with my purchases.

Anything you say to the police has the potential to harm you.

[pipi_k]

25. Exactly...

Buying those items isn't illegal.

A "sensible answer", if someone happens to ask what they're for isn't "I don't know" or "I'm going ice fishing" but the guy can't think of where he's going, or he gives three different answers (indicating deception and setting off the probable cause alarm in the cop's mind).


If a person is going to answer questions, don't make the answers sound deceptive or suspicious.

[lapislzi]

33. The police are not your friends.

They are trained to exploit your nervousness and ignorance of the law in any way they can. As a lawyer said to me once, "I don't care if you've got an open bottle of tequila in the cup holder. The correct answer to the question of whether you've had anything to drink is silence." Do not consent to a search of your vehicle or your personal effects under any circumstances. (Disclaimer: I do not advocate driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.)

Blathering and incriminating yourself just makes their job that much easier. That whole bit about "anything you say can and will be used against you?" They're not kidding.

[Hannah Bell]

24. i didn't realize americans were required to submit to police questioning about

legal purchases.

and give "sensible" answers.

[pipi_k]

27. They're not...

and that's not the point.

[Hannah Bell]

34. it's not?

[pipi_k]

36. No, it's not...

The main point of this thread that people seem to be trying to make, as spelled out in the title, is that the guy was arrested for what he bought.

He was NOT arrested for the items he bought, even though people are trying to make him seem like the victim of some horrible evil Police State.

He was questioned for the items he bought, and was likely arrested because, when questioned by the police, he gave suspicious answers.

Probable cause.

Either don't answer at all, or give answers that are consistent and don't sound deceptive.


This is not about someone being arrested for the simple act of buying certain legal items.

[Hannah Bell]

37. i didn't realize that the police had any right at all to question what people are going to

do with legal items they bought.

i don't know what a "suspicious" answer would be -- i imagine it could be anything from "fuck off" to silent sweating to "i'm going ice-fishing sir" said with a shit-eating grin. all of which could be attributed to intent to make meth -- or nervousness over being questioned -- or other causes.

you justified the arrest on the grounds that the person didn't give "sensible" answers.

it's crap.

[lapislzi]

40. The lesson to be learned here is: don't talk to the cops.

Don't give them any excuse to arrest you.

And...if you're going to break the law, don't break the law. As I'm driving home with my Meth Kit (TM), I'm going to be sure to stop at every stop sign and not drive faster than the speed limit.

[sabrina 1]

28. And since when is it the business of law enforcement

to know what you plan to do with what you buy?

I love 'informers'. The most detested species of human being in the history of all oppressed nations.

Even if he was going to make a little meth for himself, so what?

Don't we have more pressing issues to spend tax dollars on?

[pipi_k]

35. I dunno...I guess that's a question to be examined sometime...

when someone is busy buying up all kinds of stuff for making a bomb or something that kills a whole shitload of people and someone in the store says, "OMG I remember seeing that guy buying XXX and I was suspicious but I didn't think it was any of my business, so....."


Cops don't care what we buy.

But the store employees were suspicious enough to call the cops, who, at the very least, have to question the suspect.

You know...do their jobs...

[lapislzi]

38. That's false equivalence.

Purchasing bomb-making materials is not equivalent to purchasing meth-making materials, in terms of potential harm caused. Arguable, perhaps, and your point is made.

If I was an alert store employee, I might be suspicious and call authorities if I suspected bomb plans were afoot. Meth plans? Not so much.

Of course, if I was a smart meth/bomb maker, I would visit several stores so as not to arouse suspicion. Dumb crooks deserve what they get.

[May Hamm]

41. Huh?

"think the title is misleading...
and the article is incomplete."

You don't know what happened so you made up a pretend scenario and ran with it.

"What probably happened was" You have no idea what probably happened so you filled in the blanks to your own satisfaction. My fill in the blanks opinion is the police accosted him and nothing he could have said would have been good enough - hell, they had a repeat offender who was on probation they could push around. Any answer is a wrong answer when the police get a victim to toy with. (See how fun it is to go on about something with no facts to worry about?)

[frazzled]

6. Y'all need to watch Winter's Bone

which deals with the meth culture in rural Arkansas and blood ties and the law and ... well, it was one of the best films I saw this year. It's up for several Oscars, and is currently available on DVD (maybe streaming, haven't checked lately).

Trailer here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bE_X2pDRXyY

[cayanne]

17. I agree with you

Winter's Bone is an excellent movie. Believable too.

[Maine_Nurse]

9. Heck, I've made that purchase before

except usually more fuel. And I'd definitely tell them to piss off if I was asked questions about it.

[ThomCat]

11. Yup. In cases like that, it depends on who you are.

If you are poor and/or a minority you have no rights, you are assumed to be guilty and you're going to jail.

If you have enough money and good connections then congratulations, the law will assume you are respectable and deserve some rights. If they bother to ask you what you are doing with that stuff, they will give you the benefit of the doubt and accept your answers. But probably they will just assume you had legitimate reasons and not ask you at all.

Anyone who doesn't think we have a two-tiered, discriminatory "justice" system is fooling themselves.

[MedicalAdmin]

13. The first questions I would ask would be for name and badge number.

As well as commanding officer. Then I would whip out my phone, call the cop shop and ask for thier supervisor by name. If they didn't come on the phone I would leave a message for them explaining the situation. Then I would call back and ask for the officer in charge of internal affair investigation. Then I would call the local media.

Or perhaps I would call the media first.

Meth is a huge problem and I don't like the effects of it in communities, but ....

[May Hamm]

42. Oh yeah Sure you would

In my city reaching for a cell phone would have gotten you shot on the spot. Period. "Officer safety" If not shot, slammed to the ground. Your puffed up piece of all those things you would do is just hot air. You've never been in this kind of situation and you have no idea how the police treat people.

One thing cops like less than meth is a blowhard whining about rights when he should just shut up and be respectful, And as for reaching for a... gun(?) Not gonna happen because cops sure don't wait around to see if it isn't a gun.

[MedicalAdmin]

44. Yes I would do that but ( and it's a big but) I'm not assumed guilty for being brown

Im known in my community and I know I'd get away with it...

So of course you are correct. I wouldn't do that because it wouldn't happen to me. So yah, I'm fulla shit.

Crap.

[alcibiades_mystery]

14. Heisenberg says..."Stay out of my territory..."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLMF7p8hO7A

:-)

[cayanne]

18. My husband ice fishes every day he can

He doesn't take anything but ice fishing gear, auger, sled, and hand warmers. Same with all other ice fishermen up here in north Idaho.

[hunter]

32. Well, I have a cold, and I was thinking of burning down my old house...

... now that the bank's foreclosed upon it.

But thanks to you, officer, I've realized the error of my ways and changed my mind.

You are an angel sir.

Praise the Lord!

[cutlassmama]

43. LOL.

He could have been one of the many homeless now and was going to build a fire in his "camp" and also had a cold from the cold.