| Photo: Dee Tubbs/Bastrop Daily Enterprise |
| Yeah boy, we found this here merry-wanna in their house. Don’t know where you’re from, city boy, but down in Bastrop we call this a major pot bust. |
A mother and her son were arrested in Louisiana after officers found a single, scrawny marijuana plant growing in their residence. But the arresting officers, far from being acclaimed as heroes, were roundly jeered and ridiculed by the community.
Agents from the Morehouse Parish Sheriff’s Office “received information” Tuesday afternoon that marijuana was being grown in the home in Bastrop, La., reports the Bastrop Daily Enterprise.
The officers went to the residence on Summerlin Lane and spoke to Angela Hughes, 51, who unwisely gave them permission to search her home. (Quick tip: Never give consent to a search. Make them get a search warrant. They won’t “go easier” on you if you “cooperate.”)
Officers say they found a box with a light attached and a marijuana plant growing inside.
Hughes called her son, Ryan Morris, 18, on the phone and told him officers were at the residence. Officers claimed her statements “led them to believe she had prior knowledge” of the pot being grown at the home.
Mother Hughes was arrested, and son Morris came to the Morehouse Parish Sheriff’s Office and turned himself in.
If the fellows at the Morehouse Parish Sheriff’s Office were expecting heroes’ acclaim for their brave pot bust, they were sorely disappointed.
Officers were given a hard time in comments accompanying the news story.
“Some FINE police there, the country is SO much safer now,” one reader sarcastically noted.
“Amazing! Real heroes, those police officers,” another reader wrote. “I was suddenly filled with warmth by the safety endowed by such a bust! Seriously, this is ridiculous.”
“You’ve gotta be kidding me!” another reader ranted. “They are spending money, time, and effort to keep someone in jail for having a marijuana plant in their home? The damn things grow in the wild. There are millions of marijuana plants growing along the river just minutes from my home. WHO CARES?!”
“Whatever drugs the cops are on are clearly more of a danger than cannabis ever could be,” another reader offered. “As evidenced by their grandiose delusions severely impairing their judgment… I would like to know just how many officers, jail and court staff will be involved in this case and just what the total dollar amount the taxpayers of Bastrop will finally pay once this case is closed!”
The mother and son are charged with cultivation of marijuana and conspiracy to cultivate marijuana. They are both in the Morehouse Parish Jail.