Another Depressing Story of a Kid Narcing on His Parents
It's about time for another drug war tale of a kid ratting out his parents because of their weed stash! ABCnews.com has the story.
A Hastings, Minn., boy snapped a picture that showed about two pounds worth of high grade marijuana sitting on his mother and stepfather's dresser, according to police.
The preteen, who police did not identify, reportedly confronted his mother, Heidi Christine Siebenaler, who is a Dakota County probation supervisor, about the smell, which he told police was so pungent he "was unable to escape [it] without going outside."
Siebenaler allegedly told her son that marijuana use is "not that bad," a criminal complaint stated.
The boy, who police called "mature for his age," forwarded the picture to his biological father who turned it over to authorities.
Do you know who else told their child that marijuana use wasn't that bad? My mom. Not because she was tokin' and homeschoolin' but because she knew the drug war was an an insane waste of money, time, and lives. (I was extremely weirded out by this idea initially, which means that anti-drug propaganda can somehow reach people who were homeschooled in the Pennsylvania countryside by libertarians.)
Basically, this could be the fault of DARE training — certainly a DARE mentality — or actually negligent parents who were asphyxiating their child with reefer smoke, or this could be an opportunistic and/or uptight bio-dad. The kicker is that the boy's step-father — who, by the way, says it's for medical use because he suffered a traumatic brain injury years ago, but too bad it's not legal in Minnesota — is being charged with possession (of eight pounds of marijuana) and intent to distribute. In Minnesota, the possession charges can bring up to five years in jail and a $10,000 fine. Obviously there's further penalties tacked on for the latter charge. The mom is being charged with 5th degree possession. She says she didn't even know it was in the house.
The boy, of course, did the right thing according to drug warriors.
"He was feeling conflicted," said Dan Bianconi, a sergeant with the Dakota County Drug Task Force who was part of the team that executed the warrant. "He didn't take any pride in this."…"He knows he did the right thing."
And here's the local Fox affiliate:
"What's sad is our community corrections folks see people come in every day who are involved in drugs and alcohol. That's probably what got them in trouble in the first place -- and to not have the sensitivity about that, and to go down the same path that one sees every day in court is disconcerting for us," said Washington County Attorney Peter Orcut.
Orcut said prosecutors will not discount the case just because marijuana is legal for medicinal use in other states, saying the amount of marijuana that was confiscated makes it a serious case.
Reason on previous tales of children turning on mom and dad, and more absurdities involving the drug war and children.
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what a little shit!
maybe cocaine & heroin should be legal as well, but you'd still be an idiot if you left 2 pounds of powder laying out in the open when you have a pre-teen in the house
i feel bad for the kid, his mom should not have put him in that position, knowing how much anti-drug propaganda he is being exposed to
Given the situation, it looks like the mother and stepfather are sort of losers and the kid may not give a fuck about them or "doing the right thing". This is a lesson about being careful with loud weed and keeping your priorities straight.
Sieg Heil!
Wake me when Lucy checks the Morning Links.
Wake me when Solanum gets his/her hat tip.
Stop toking and wake up, guys.
Sorry, I had already noticed this story. I am never miserly with hat tips, I promise.
Not good enough!
+1 Lucy
Poor Warty.
I think the stepdad should have kept most of the cannabis sealed up and taken only a bit out at a time. Having two pounds sitting around - especially one of the stinkier varieties - isn't a great idea. Not to mention the fact that air will make it go stale like anything else.
Of course, how can ABC News/the cops tell just by looking at a picture a)how much it weighs and b) how potent it is? Or is it the cannabis equivalent of all guns are AK-47s, all dogs pit bulls?
Seriously. Has this guy never heard of vacuum sealers? 2-8 pounds is a lot and it's pretty dumb to let anyone who doesn't need to know that you keep that around the house. Step-dad must have been dealing (not that that should be a crime) and was stupidly incautious.
Haven't you seen extreme couponing? He just got a really good price and stocked up.
Gotta love propaganda that encourages children to rat on his fucking parents.
The Drug War: destroying families one at a time.
To be fair, that family sounds like it was already a little destroyed.
Sounds like this guy isn't a pro grower (leaving multiple kilos just out?), so I am not sure why the cops care so much. I guess that kid is going to have an awesome life now -- divorced parents and a stepdad in jail!
A Hastings, Minn., boy snapped a picture that showed about two pounds worth of high grade marijuana sitting on his mother and stepfather's dresser, according to police.
FYI 1 kilo = 2.2 lbs. No multiple kilos here.
When I was in grade school in the late 50's/early 60's, one of the worst horror stories told to us about the evils of communism was how the state encouraged kids to report their parents.
Now it's government policy here to encourage the same behavior.
How soon we forget.
no hugs for thugs,
Shirley Knott
I wonder how many of these darling little angels turn in their parents out of pure spite whenever the kiddos don't get something that they want...
"Whaddya mean we don't have the money for the latest iWhatever!? We'd have more money if you weren't spending money on your dope!"
It's the same thing as kids calling DHS whenever they don't get what they want. Modern day extortion, I tells ya.
We'd have more money if you weren't spending money on your dope!
"Son, we wouldn't have ANY money if I wasn't growing dope."
Except Dad's alimony.
The Committee for State Security would be proud
Has anyone read the article? It was about a kid getting rid of his shitty smelly step-dad and hypocrite law-enforcement mother in order to live with his biological father. Retards put themselves into a position where he could.
We already hashed this out so to speak.
You can bet Ms Steigerwald has, and she was careful to leave out the parts that make this not a case of "Oh my god the government is tearing families apart".
The hand that blogs the cradle rules the world, my friend.
yea, i have to agree with you there. as per usual, the very title is misleading
the kid did not "narc" on his parents.
if anything, he told his DAD about what his stepdad was doing. by most definitions, and the commonly accepted ones, of "narc" , kid telling one parent about what another parent is doing is not "narcing"
the kid did not call the police
for all i know, the dad who did call the police may not give a flying fuck about marijuana per se. but he may have simply seen this as an opp to get custody and/or better custodial arrangements
and btw, *if* he had used the mj thing , as in called the dad and said "if you guys don't give me custody etc. i'm turning you in to the cops", THAT would be extortion, and he would be in legal trouble assuming they could prove it
I thought "Narcing" meant calling the police. The kid told his *father,* not the cops (and it's "father," not "biological father" or "bio-dad").
If anyone "narced," it's the father, who probably lost custody of his child to his wife and her (avowedly) brain-damaged husband. Not to endorse "narcing," but you can certainly see the temptation here.
I remember the DARE officers at our school trying to get us to rat out our parents. I knew better. But my hated of drugs still lingers, though I am perfectly fine with other people doing them in privacy.
I was with two NJ police directors yesterday who told me that DARE was a waste of manpower and that they had re-deployed their DARE officers to patrol.They also said that they were open to decriminalization and legalization as a means of uncutting the gangs and driving them out of business. Good to see common sense spreading.
yup
Headline: Another Depressing Story of a Kid Narcing on His Parents
Copy: The boy...forwarded the picture to his biological father, who turned it over to authorities.
So, the father did the actual "narcing." Not that facts matter.
This place used to have much more talented propagandists.
Come back, Radley! Mamma has work for you!
It says it right there in the synopsis. The kid told his father, probably knowing damn well what would happen.
Can't say I blame the Dad too much. Not that I have beef with drug use, but having that much laying around at your residence is an invitation for a custody battle at the minimum. In shittier parts of town, it's an invitation for other dealers to bust in your door in the middle of night...
exacfly. 1) the title is misleading. complaining to one parent about another parent's action is not "narc'ing". if the kid had called police, THAT would be narc'ing.,
and when it comes to divorced parents, child custody issues, etc. etc. parents will turn the other parent in for ANYTHING, and frankly will make shit up all the time too just to get the upper hand.
i feel somewhat badly for the mom, but obviously she WAS a moron for just leaving the stuff lying around
or more correctly, for not getting on her partner for leaving it lying around.
+1 for me.
Narcing doesn't have to be to the police.
Also, pick a fucking handle and stick with it, asshole.
Zeb is a sensitive little guy!
The biological dad was probably paying the mom to support the kid and the brain dead stepdad. He should have just used the situation to extort the bitch out of some alimony and get to see his kid more.
Why? - this was easier, legal, and pure revenge. He not only gets his kid back, he destroyed the ex's career and put her husband in jail as a distributor.
Based on quite a bit of anecdotal experience, I'm going with Big Tex on this. The ex and her new squeeze don't exactly sound like parents of the year. Sucks that his narc'ing is going to lead to lengthy prison sentences and fines, though.
by what possible logic do you think it will lead to "long prison sentences?"
study the stats.
FIRST offense, for a relatively minor grow op - almost certainly probation.
in most jurisdictions
oh, and my bad. i had to rtfa. it wasn't a grow op.
either way, it's a likely probation case.
Two pounds (taking the estimate at face value) of weed only gets you probation? I did not know that, and am surprised.
There isn't an enhancement for having the substance near children, or anything like that?
i am saying that ... in every jurisdiction i have worked... FIRST OFFENSE (i see no evidence otherwise) ... it's almost guaranteed probation, assuming the guy was willing to plea bargain.
fwiw, i am 100% for legalization, but NORML et al *do* propagandize in that they are entirely dishonest when it comes to sentencing.
iow, they will say that some guy got 5 yrs for a MJ offense, and fail to mention that he was on parole for carjacking, had 3 prior felony convictions, bla bla
This is what happens when we, as a society, say that good parenting entails children spending more time with state-employed strangers than with blood relatives.
The mother was a state-employed parole supervisor. I wonder how many convicts she put back in prison for using drugs?
Excellent question - I hope she doesn't encounter them in prison.
I hope she does.
the chance she will go to prison is very small
assuming first offense, for a minor grow op, that's almost always probation in my jurisdiction, and every one i have worked
ugh. i had to RTFA. not a grow op. still unlikely one would get more than probation
I just cannot imagine raising a kid to be a RAT. Makes no sense dude.
http://www.totally-anon.us.tc
The drug war is clearly a success. Families are now able to destroy themselves, without a SWAT team getting involved at all.
Illogical. The local po-po have to all those fancy new weapons for *something*.
families have destroyed themselves via family court without any drug allegations whatsoever for years.
seriously.
this case says way more about divorced parents, custody issues, and their willingness to fuck each other over (and especially fuck over a step parent) in order to improve custody etc. than it does about drugs
Homechoolin'? Homechoomin'!
You can't plan the perfection of a typo like that, can you?
Fixed, thank you.
can't help but notice they gave the goverment employee a 5th degree charge and she happens to be in one of two counties in Minnesota where a 5th degree charge has diversionary program that can result in no criminal conviction, not that I agree with the charges at all.
you could help but notice that's par for the course. first offense marijuana grow op = probation
generally speaking
ugh. again. RTFA. not a grow op. either way, probation = par for the course
You can't plan the perfection of a typo like that, can you?
Most Supremely and Everlastingly Wondermuss Lucy, you are familiar with RC'z Law, no?
I just googled it. It's a powerful law indeed, especially when it comes to my "homechooled" past.
Lucy you made a Seigfried Sassoon reference the other day. That washs away all sins, RC's law be damned.
The kid did doubleplusgood.
This is great! It gives me something to talk about during Thanksgiving next week down at my aunt's place in Hastings.
I'm sure it is a big topic down there. Bonus material is that I can ask my father if he knew the woman. He is a retired state probation officer and his best buddy in the Dept of Corrections worked out of Dakota county.
Friends don't let friends have kids.
I can't believe how dumb the mom and the step dad were. They didn't think the kid would tell his dad and the dad wouldn't turn them in to get custody of his kid back?
Lots of laws are questionable. But, in a civilized society we follow our laws. Kudos to the kid for the courage to stand up. As for drugs, my family has felt the effects of children and drugs. You apparently have not...
I think the effects of children turning their parents into the government are a lot worse than the effects of pot on children.
The kid didn't turn in his parents. One of the people who was turned in wasn't his parent anyway.
What is going to happen to the kid's stepfather suggests that this is not a civilized society.
what IS going to happen? i read the article at the link and maybe i missed something?
Oh dunphy, you missed the obvious propaganda value of this little ephemeral posting by Lucy. Not to worry! More...tomorrow!
My family has felt the effects of children and drugs. It consisted of me doing lots of drugs as a teenager, still doing well in highschool, then going to college and doing really well and getting a good job. The horror!
+1 that's been my experince 9 times out of 10.
You went college 10 times?
Learn to read: he went to college 9 times. The tenth time, I guess, he went to jail.
Thanks, I come here to learn.
The Ninth Circle awaits that child.
That's too good for him.
For telling his *father* what was going on at home?
I suspect that the first governmental intervention in this case was when the kid was torn away from his father by the courts and forced to live with an avowedly brain-damaged stranger.
(and I don't know who initiated these custody proceedings, but I know what the odds are)
Even if he thought his father would call the cops, gosh, I wonder where he learned that the government should be interfering in family life?
Why? Because he sent a pic of that to his Dad? Sounds like the kid did the right thing, since he wasn't the one to call the cops.
And deciding whether to call the cops wasn't the kid's call - he left it up to his dad. I suppose one could call the dad a fink and a narc, but that's a whole lot of temptation to put in front of a non-custodial father.
Hope the young man learns his lesson that doing what the state tells you to do will just have you land in foster care until you are 18.
No matter how bad home is, foster care is worse.
Is there something wrong with having him live with, say, his father? Is his father some kind of serial killer, or otherwise worse than a foster parent?
I assume there isn't -- and your critique of how fathers are treated is totally valid -- but I kind of wish the stepfather didn't have to get five years in jail to make that happen. Kind of makes me a bit less sympathetic to the dad until I know the full details.
Maybe he should have smoked his dope somewhere else when the kid first complained.
first of all, one cannot get five years in jail. you mean prison
second of all, by what logic do you assume the stepfather would get 5 yrs for this?
and don't quote the penalty in the LAW. those aren't relevant to actual sentences
e.g. my state law says one CAN get a year for DUI
first offenders get probation. they do not get a year.
unless we have knowledge the stepfather had (probably multiple) felony priors, etc... in most jurisdictions, a first offense of this sort would get you probation
i read the article and saw no mention of 5 yrs
"He knows he did the right thing."
I hope nobody trusts the little shit for the rest of his life.
But, in a civilized society we follow our laws.
In a civilized society, the laws would make sense.
the laws against mj growing/use are CLEARLY stupid as fuck
otoh,leaving that much MJ just hanging around the house when you have a preteen is colossally stupid.
the running meme is that "potheads" do stupid ass stuff. this story reinforces that meme.
whether or not it's true
Yes. Stoners do the darndest things. My favorite segment of Cops, is a traffic stop in Kansas/Iowa. The officer is talking to the driver and is questioning the driver if there is any MJ in the vehicle. The driver keeps insisting, no. All the while the driver has a joint tucked behind his ear, in plain view to the cop, and the cameras. The cop finally reaches in and plucks the joint from the guys ear and shows it to him. The look on the driver's face is hilarious!
I think drug laws are ridiculous as well. However, parents need to show more discretion concerning "adult things" like drugs, sex toys, household finances, guns, etc.
granted, there is selection bias. we do not catch the SMART mj users, so ... cops will generally notice the stupidity of... the stupid ones as attached to their dope
but really, any street cop with any time on could tell a million stories of this.
guy stopping at stop sign for 5 minutes. i pull him over.
"why are you just sitting there blocking traffic"
"i was waiting for the light to turn green"
lol. there was no LIGHT. it was a STOP SIGN. they don't TURN green
and yes, the guy was dui... on mj.
granted, DUI's on alcohol are more likely to be reckless vs. just stupid as fuck.
heck, i went to college. sure, lots of smaht people smoked dope. but some of the dumbest ones i met were the longterm HEAVILY using potheads.
sure, it's a cliche. but many cliches have a "whiff" of truth to them.
It's more a case of "boy turning in step-dad" which is totally understandable.
Depending on the circumstances, that can be a very cold relationship.
yea, and ime ... especially if they have been fucked over... as dads often are in re custody, etc... parents will do all kinds of fucked up shit to get better custody etc. this story says WAY more about divorce and custody shenanigans than it does about drugs.
absolutely
And think of the judge who thought this home environment was better than having the kid live with his father. Assuming the judge is the tough-on-drugs type, I bet *his* (or her) face is red!
The kid is 11, right? Depending on the laws, but I think at 12, the child has a right to decide which parent he can live with. So, only had to wait until he turned 12 instead of making this fuss.
The boy, who police called "mature for his age," forwarded the picture to his biological father who turned it over to authorities.
Sounds like someone didn't want to live with mom and her new husband anymore.
Well on his way to a career in Unfavorable Plant Enforcement.
My definition is, like, totally compromised!