Elderly Couple Stopped In Nebraska With 60 Pounds Of Weed 'For Christmas Presents'

[steve2470]

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/12/22/572844666/elderly-couple-stopped-in-nebraska-with-60-pounds-of-weed-for-christmas-presents

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Sheriff's deputies in York County, Neb., stopped a pickup truck on Tuesday when they noticed it driving over the center line and the driver failing to signal.

During the traffic stop, deputies noticed a strong smell of raw marijuana, the sheriff's department says.

The truck was being driven by an elderly couple — Patrick Jiron, 80, and Barbara Jiron, 83 – who said they were from northern California and were en route to Boston and Vermont.

Deputies asked the driver, Patrick Jiron, about the odor, and he admitted to having contraband in the truck and consented to a search of the vehicle.

[Gabi Hayes]

1. Lock. Him. Up!!!

Throw away the key....lo(s)

[Mosby]

2. that sucks

Nebraska will throw them in prison and seize whatever property they can.

[Gabi Hayes]

3. Those cops.....smug pricks, keeping the prairie safe from Medellin

Who’s the real threat? What’s wrong with those pix?

[SharonClark]

14. Nothing is wrong with that picture and the cops don"t look smug.

[BannonsLiver]

17. You're right they don't look smug.

They look like low-info meathead assholes, like a lot of cops do. Wonder if they slipped a few nugs into their own pockets for Christmas. I bet they did.

[brush]

27. Too bad for that old couple. If they had been one state over in Colorado there'd be no problem.

[OldHippieChick]

29. That's probably where they bought it. Must have cost their life

savings!!!

[brush]

31. Yeah. That was a lot...300k. I feel for them. A little dope in moderation doesn't hurt.

[Gabi Hayes]

34. A big dope in the WH, though, thats an entirely different story......

[brush]

35. Yep.

[shanti]

36. The story says

they were from Northern California.

[skylucy]

4. Elderly persons often feel isolated and need friends. It warms my heart that this couple obviously

has many many friends.

[logosoco]

5. Those cops look like idiots.

And they are going to look even stupider in the future when people come across these types of stories.

This does not serve society and is actually robbing the tax payers in Nebraska.

[SharonClark]

15. The drug dealers (or mules) are the ones looking stupid.

[MineralMan]

6. Looks like they'll be living in the Graybar Assisted Living Center

for a while. They don't appear to have planned this all that well, and it sounds like they had partaken of some of their bounty while driving. Too bad. They could have earned a nice sum from those "Christmas Presents."

[steve2470]

7. I really really hate to see stories like this

Yes, they did not plan this very well. As lawyers say, ignorance of the law is no excuse. I just hate to see older people in jail or prison, not that I delight in seeing young people in there.

[MineralMan]

13. Yeah, I do too.

We don't have the whole story, of course. The guy has made bail and is out of jail. That means he is not without resources. They could be acting as mules with the dope. Or, they could be in that business themselves. I don't know, but that much weed didn't get into their pickup bed by accident. I don't think there was any ignorance of the law here.

We'll probably never see any follow-up of this, really, so we'll never know.

[Wellstone ruled]

8. Okay Gamma,I got this.

the Kids are going to be Poed this year,no presents from Grampa and Gramma. Knew I should have gotten them new glasses.

[BiminiTwisted]

9. BS on cause for the stop, crossing center line without flasher.

More likely profiled due to California plates.

[thbobby]

10. Pot should be legal, BUT

60 lbs for Christmas Presents. That really sounds suspicious to me. It was probably fairly potent weed - looked like it and the smell. If was valued at $1000 per pound (probably a conservative estimate), that is sixty grand of pot. For Christmas Presents? Just does not make sense to me.

[steve2470]

11. NPR article said $300K for the weed

"They said the marijuana was for Christmas presents," Lt. Paul Vrbka told the York News-Times. The department estimated the street value of the pot at over $300,000.

from http://www.yorknewstimes.com/news/elderly-man-jailed-his-wife-only-cited-in-christmas-pot/article_13931e9c-e72d-11e7-a926-17a86b6984fa.html

Lt. Vrbka said the Jirons acknowledged that the marijuana was in the back of the pickup, under a topper, and deputies found 60 pounds of marijuana inside boxes. Because the marijuana was such high grade, the street value was equally high.

[thbobby]

12. Thanks

300 grand! My feeling is they were paid to transport. This entire scenario does not make sense. Much more needs to be known to really assess what was going on. If pot were legal, this old couple might not be in jail and taxpayers would not have to pay for their incarceration. On the other hand, if they had a desperate need for money (say for medical treatments) that would tell an entirely different story about our country. Just too much is unknown to make any sense.

[Egnever]

26. My guess is they are growers.

And probably have been for a long time.

[LuckyCharms]

16. I had an orgasm when I saw that first picture. n/t

[BannonsLiver]

19. Hahaha it does look quite beautiful.

[LuckyCharms]

20. .

[spanone]

18. 'raw' marijuana....wtf?

[madinmaryland]

22. Well you could cook it in a smoker.

[spanone]

23. never heard that expression...

[dembotoz]

21. one hell of a lot of pot....

often wonder if red states that border legal pot states go out of their way to bust folks who leave with some formally legal pot in the car....

it like you buy a case of beer and only drink a few bottles...you don't throw out the case, you take it home

[workinclasszero]

24. See why cops want to keep pot illegal?

Gotta strip these dangerous 80 year old's of all their money and lock them up!

It's a wonder they didn't shoot them down in the street I guess....wrong color saved them.

[BannonsLiver]

25. Also for the federal grant money

This bust will probably yield a pretty penny in federal pork for that department at some point.

[mary896]

28. Someday....

Marijuana will be given its freedom. What a hypocritical country we live in where opioids lay waste to every corner of the nation, but a proven helpful, and quite fun plant, is unfairly demonized for generations. Thank all that is holy I live in Oregon. Freedom.

Merry Christmas and here's to a new, prosperous and Democratic new year. *crossed fingers*

Mary

[radical noodle]

30. A Democratic new year

I like that. Welcome to DU!

[gopiscrap]

39. welcome to du

[Dreamer Tatum]

32. Think of the missed tax revenues from it nt

[TheFrenchRazor]

33. yay!!! War On Drugs!!!!! cops are proud of being tools. nt

[retread]

37. 60 pounds. 30 for presents and 30 for their own use! Read somewhere that pot

today is NOT your grandparents' pot. Evidently it is!!!

[Noodleboy13]

38. Talk about spoiling your grandkids during xmas.

Or maybe it's just a xmas tree that needs some assembly?

I've seen some fairly large quantities in my nefarious travels but ....wow.

I'd like to dump all of that on the ground and roll in it like a cat in catnip.

peace,
Noodleboy