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Bernard: NC Police Make Huge Drug Bust, Take 13 Lbs of Sugar Off the Street


Viper

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Perhaps it's time to stop arresting people because of unreliable field tests?

 

https://reason.com/blog/2018/08/30/nc-fentanyl-bust-lab-test-sugar

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Huge North Carolina Fentanyl Bust Turns Out To Be 13 Pounds of Sugar

The New Hanover County Sheriff's Office made a mistake.

Zuri Davis|Aug. 30, 2018 10:45 am

|||New Hanover County Sheriff's Office

New Hanover County Sheriff's Office

 

In July, New Hanover County Sheriff's Office (NHCSO) made a big fuss about a huge fentanyl bust.

Sheriff Ed McMahon proudly boasted "one of the largest seizures in the state" after the NHCSO's Gang Task Force seized an estimated $2 million worth of 'the deadly opioid fentanyl' during a raid. Three Wilmington residents were arrested as a result. "When you think about this poison—this fentanyl—one grain can kill you," McMahon said. "Our detectives are having to gear up with all this safety equipment before we go in. Once they get in, if we find something—any kind of drugs that we think may be fentanyl—we stop, we have to get our CSI team to come in and we test that in a lab now under special conditions. So we do all that, it makes it that much more dangerous for our local law enforcement officers."

Months after McMahon made his alarming statements, Lt. Jerry Brewer announced that a private lab found the "fentanyl" was actually "a combination of simple and complex carbohydrates." In other words: sugar.

 

The false positive came from a field test kit used by CSI in the bust. The field test kit was invented and administered by Scott Company Drug Testing, which was founded by a retired DEA agent and forensic chemist. According to its website, the field test kit uses "reagents that have held up in court since 1978." The company also assures the integrity of officers and their investigations. Despite this promise, Brewer confirmed that it was in fact possible for the field test kit to make false identifications of fentanyl, as it had in this case.

In a four-page release to WECT, the company said, "Under certain circumstances, sugar substances can mimic a false positive result." The company also stated that it would be providing more training about the nature of "presumptive tests," on which the kit relies, and confirmatory tests, which uses additional measures to make conclusions about a substance.

This is not the first time a false positive in a field test kit led to a drug arrest. A 65-year-old retiree, Daniel Rushing, was awarded $37,500 from the city of Orlando, Florida, after being pulled over in a traffic stop by police. An officer used a field test kit to test the white substance present in his vehicle. After officers first tried to identify the substance as crack cocaine, they eventually arrested Rushing for the possession of methamphetamine "with a weapon," despite the fact he legally possessed a concealed carry in his vehicle. A lab test later revealed that the suspicious white substance was glaze from the doughnuts Rushing ate in his vehicle.

Photo Credit: New Hanover County Sheriff's Office

Additional pictures of the bust below

images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQFuZNgTfdz3oWx_v654fP

 

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"Our detectives are having to gear up with all this safety equipment before we go in. Once they get in, if we find something—any kind of drugs that we think may be fentanyl—we stop, we have to get our CSI team to come in and we test that in a lab now under special conditions. So we do all that, it makes it that much more dangerous for our local law enforcement officers."

To be fair, sugar is a danger to fat ass cops.

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54 minutes ago, Viper said:

This is not the first time a false positive in a field test kit led to a drug arrest. A 65-year-old retiree, Daniel Rushing, was awarded $37,500 from the city of Orlando, Florida, after being pulled over in a traffic stop by police. An officer used a field test kit to test the white substance present in his vehicle. After officers first tried to identify the substance as crack cocaine, they eventually arrested Rushing for the possession of methamphetamine "with a weapon," despite the fact he legally possessed a concealed carry in his vehicle. A lab test later revealed that the suspicious white substance was glaze from the doughnuts Rushing ate in his vehicle.

 

Are none of our childhood stereotypes sacred?

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Always love the inflated numbers cops give for their drug busts.

"We raided this guy's house and found three marijuana plants with an estimated street value of $5 million bucks!  We're obviously doing a phenomenal job protecting this community!  So, please give us more money so we can buy more armored vehicles and tacti-cool gear so we can look like the Navy Seals we envy!"

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2 hours ago, SpiralOut said:

Always love the inflated numbers cops give for their drug busts.

"We raided this guy's house and found three marijuana plants with an estimated street value of $5 million bucks!  We're obviously doing a phenomenal job protecting this community!  So, please give us more money so we can buy more armored vehicles and tacti-cool gear so we can look like the Navy Seals we envy!"

Not sure if still true, but there was a time where they would break the weight down to how many joints at x value were confiscated. Street price and all

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1 hour ago, Eddyline said:

Amen to that.  Have no idea how civil forfeiture laws could possibly be upheld by any reasonable court...

I think I recall reading that in the past year or two police have finally crossed over to taking more from the American public through civil forfeiture than thieves steal.

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2 hours ago, SpiralOut said:

I think I recall reading that in the past year or two police have finally crossed over to taking more from the American public through civil forfeiture than thieves steal.

Geez. This country is becoming another banana republic. No CR.

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10 minutes ago, RDCanecutter said:

Did they mention the "street value"?

Sheriff Ed McMahon proudly boasted "one of the largest seizures in the state" after the NHCSO's Gang Task Force seized an estimated $2 million worth of 'the deadly opioid fentanyl' during a raid. 

 

Actual "street value" about $7 

Edited by Viper
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18 minutes ago, Viper said:

Sheriff Ed McMahon proudly boasted "one of the largest seizures in the state" after the NHCSO's Gang Task Force seized an estimated $2 million worth of 'the deadly opioid fentanyl' during a raid. 

 

Actual "street value" about $7 

What a sale!

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