The Toy School Bus Full of Drugs
You do not need an extraordinary aptitude for imagination to see the parallels between children’s entertainment and the thought processes of people under the influence of drugs. If you were a relatively straitlaced youth, then perhaps when you sit down with your children and watch whimsical productions in which furry, green curmudgeons routinely pop out of garbage cans and spit the truth and furry, blue simpletons gorge themselves on sweet biscuits, it is easy to recall the antics of belligerent, opinionated drunks and of potheads with the munchies, and to be glad that you are spending your time in the company of children instead of with them. If you indulged in substances in your younger days, then it is easy to understand why watching old Scooby Doo cartoons on YouTube remains a favorite recreational activity of cannabis enthusiasts who are waiting for their Door Dash orders to arrive. It makes sense that drug users would hide their drugs inside toys, especially if there is little risk that children will find the drugs. We all have a friend of a friend whose drug dealer allegedly keeps his stash of drugs inside a half-stuffed teddy bear, perhaps padding the inside of the bear with drug money so that it looks less suspicious from the outside. Therefore, if police search a vehicle in which all the occupants are adults, it makes sense that a children’s toy will be one of the first places they will look for drugs. Here, our Miami drug crimes defense lawyer explains how a traffic stop led to police finding a stash of pills hidden inside a toy school bus and to the driver of the car that was transporting the bus getting criminal charges for drug possession with intent to deliver.
A Drug Transport Vehicle Inside a Drug Transport Vehicle
If you spend enough time in South Florida, you will find out that nothing good ever happens on Broward Boulevard. On November 15, it was where a drug deal failed to transpire. A man was sitting in a parked car in a parking lot outside a Walgreens on Broward Boulevard when a police officer in a patrol car passed by and assumed the worst. When asked to show his driver’s license and insurance, he did not have a driver’s license to show, and the insurance card he presented belonged to someone else. The officer asked to search the car, and the man consented to the search. The officer found a toy school bus bearing a Sesame Street logo. Inside the bus were several hundred pills, which the police later sent to a crime lab; testing at the lab revealed that the pills contained fentanyl, a synthetic opioid so strong that a tiny dose can be fatal. Fentanyl causes more drug-related deaths than any other drug and has held this title for years.
According to the Miami Herald website, an officer read the Miranda warnings to the man After that, he told the officer that he knew that there were drugs in the toy bus. He said that he planned to deliver the drugs to a drug dealer, who had promised to pay him $30,000. He was booked into jail and is now facing criminal charges for possession of controlled substances with intent to deliver.
Defendant Has Bigger Legal Problems Than Just a Toy School Bus Full of Opioid Pills
Even though the defendant in this case apparently confessed after hearing the Miranda warnings, his case could still go in a variety of directions. Everyone accused of a crime has the right to plead not guilty and to go to trial. If the man chooses to do this, he might be able to argue that the statements he made after being Mirandized do not connect him to the accusations beyond a reasonable doubt. Another possible outcome is for the man to negotiate a plea deal to reduce his charges if he pleads guilty. The state may be open to this idea, as he likely knows information that would assist the state in its investigation into other participants in the drug trafficking network. If he is convicted or pleads guilty, he will likely face deportation during or after his sentence, since he does not have legal immigration status in the United States.
Contact Our Criminal Defense Attorneys
A South Florida criminal defense lawyer can help you if you are facing criminal charges for drug possession with intent to deliver. Contact Ratzan & Faccidomo in Miami, Florida for a confidential consultation about your case.
Source:
miamiherald.com/news/local/crime/article313103577.html
