POLICE BLOTTER - 2 Feb. 2012

MARIJUANA POSSESSION (1/26/12) 

A Winthrop police officer was dispatched to Richardson Hall at 1:17 a.m. in reference to a strong smell of marijuana coming from one of the rooms on the first floor, according to the police report.  

The resident assistant directed the officer to the room that seemed to smell of marijuana. While the officer was figuring out which room the odor was coming from, a group of subjects exited one of the rooms in the vicinity. The officer knocked on that door and the subject answered, the police report says. 

The officer smelled marijuana and asked the subject if he had any. The student told the officer he didn’t have any and gave the officer permission to enter the room. Upon entering the room, the officer spotted a pill bottle containing marijuana, according to the report.

The subject gave the officer permission to then search the room for more marijuana. The officer also began trying to find the subjects who had left the room prior to the officer entering. Another officer went out and found the other subjects walking in front of Bancroft Hall and escorted them back to Richardson Hall, according to the report. 

Upon returning to Richardson Hall, the offender told the officer that the marijuana belonged to him. He also told the officer that he had dropped a cigar with marijuana in it in front of Thurmond Hall. The officer and the offender went and retrieved the cigar. The offender was then issued a citation for possession of marijuana, acccording to the police report.

UNLAWFUL CARRYING OF HANDGUN, POSSESSION OF HANDGUN WITH SERIAL NUMBER REMOVED, DRIVING UNDER SUSPENTION (1/26/12)

At 1:09 a.m., a Campus Police officer observed a maroon Cadillac limo traveling down Cherry Road. The Cadillac failed to dim its headlights so the reporting officer pulled the car over. As the reporting officer approached the driver’s side of the vehicle he smelled marijuana coming from the vehicle. 

When asked for his driver’s license, the offender produced a bill of sale for the vehicle but no license. The officer asked for the offender’s license again and the offender informed the officer that he did not have his license with him, according to the police report. 

The officer asked the offender his name and social security number. The offender gave him a name and told the reporting officer he did not know his social security number. The officer looked up the name, saw a photo and noticed that the man in the picture did not match the man he had pulled over, according to the police report. 

The officer asked the subject to exit the vehicle and upon doing so, he took off his jacket. The offender was arrested. 

When the officer got the offender’s jacket, he found a .38 caliber handgun in the front pocket. The serial number had been filed off so the reporting officer could not check the gun. The offender was taken to the Rock Hill Jail for unlawful carrying of a handgun and possession of a handgun with serial number removed, according to the report.

The offender also received tickets for open container of beer and false information to police. The second passenger was given a ticket for having an open container of liquor and all the other passengers were released, according to the police report.

Compiled by Zoe Irrizary