| Photo: Let’s Talk Style |
An inmate who allegedly received a box of marijuana-filled ballpoint pens from a female Cook County, Illinois sheriff’s deputy is facing a felony contraband charge for the transaction.
But prosecutors declined to charge the deputy after she was arrested earlier this month for hand-delivering the cannabis inside the Cook County Criminal Courts Building, reports Matthew Walberg at the Chicago Tribune.
Wait, what?
“We are still at a loss as to why this particular case did not get charged,” said Joe Ways, head of the sheriff’s Office of Professional Review, which investigates employee misconduct.
The state attorney’s office said the case fell apart because incompetent sheriff’s investigators did not follow specific instructions to ensure they had the evidence needed to show the deputy knew she was delivering drugs to inmate Brian Goolsby, 28.
Of course, it must be entirely coincidental that the deputies somehow kept their shit together long enough to bust the inmate, but were somehow totally unable to “collect evidence” on their colleague. Mm-hmm.
| Photo: CalPatty Press |
”It was clear that she knew she was transporting a box of something, and it was probably clear that she knew she was transporting pens,” said Dan Kirk, chief of staff to State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez.
“We would have gladly charged her had the evidence been sufficient, as we have in many other cases,” Kirk claimed. “It just simply wasn’t there.”
How inconvenient.
The 40-year-old deputy, who is not being identified because she has not been charged with a crime, was arrested July 1 after delivering the marijuana-filled pens to Goolsby when he appeared at the Criminal Courts Building for a routine hearing in his pending murder case.
The investigators moved in, recovered the box of pens from Goolsby, and found that one of the pen caps had been removed, revealing the cannabis.
“Because of the speed of the series of events, none would have to surmise that she opened one and saw what was in there,” Ways said.
But that assumption was a problem for prosecutors, who claimed no one actually saw the deputy open the pen.
In addition, the deputy, who is hearing impaired, denied she knew about the pot and claimed she didn’t hear what the cooperating witness said in the hallway.
A source familiar with the investigation said prosecutors asked that the sheriff’s investigators leave the marijuana exposed and visible so the deputy could not claim ignorance of the pens’ contents. Instead, the pens were closed before the exchange.
Despite the fact that one pen had been opened, no one can testify that they saw the deputy open it, the source said.
Additionally, prosecutors claim an earlier recorded telephone conversation between Goolsby and the witness suggested the deputy was unaware of the marijuana.
“For all she knows, she’s just getting pens,” Goolsby allegedly told the witness, while referring to the deputy.
Goolsby was charged Monday with possession of contraband in a penal institution.
Meanwhile, the deputy has been suspended — with pay — for delivering the box of pens, a department violation.
Ways said the sheriff’s department is preparing to fire her.
