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Roommate Called Cops / Questions Conerning Rights (Marijuana / Paraphernalia)

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james88

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? Florida

Hello, here's my story:


Three weeks ago, I (age 18) moved into a house with my brother (age 21) and a girl who knew my brother (who moved in a week earlier). My first couple of days there, I did the typical roommate thing and went over ground rules of what's okay and what isn't. She said she was okay with my brother and I smoking marijuana from time to time and was also okay with us playing loud music on a regular basis.

About one week into me living there, the girl (22 years old) began dating a 44 year old firefighter who is married with a daughter and lives out of the city. Since she began dating him, she has changed quite a bit. Amongst many other useless details, she gave her "boyfriend" a key to our house. Since he lives about an hour away and she has a busy work schedule, he uses the key to get into our house when she's not home and does absolutely nothing for hours on end. This guy's presence is very discomforting, and after about two weeks of this guy, my brother and I grew tired of him.

Since the guy comes to our house 4 days out of the week, my brother and I decided to confront the girl about the whole situation. We told her that we didn't want this guy around at all anymore and that we wanted the key back right away. In her defense, she said that she didn't want anymore marijuana smoking in the house. After this, the whole situation worsened.

Four days after we had the talk with the girl, she came home at 2:00am to my brother and I smoking a hookah in the living room with only shisha in the bowl. I smoked about .3g of marijuana between 4 people at a friends house a few hours earlier. We had complied with her request to stop smoking marijuana in the house since we hadn't seen the guy after we told her we didn't want him around. Right when she walked in the door, she immediately looked angry with us and walked out the door. We thought nothing of it, as she is quite the night owl.

Thirty minutes later, a police officer walked through our front door with the girl right behind him. We were still smoking the hookah and watching a DVD at this time. The first thing the cop said was "Trying to cover something up?" We obviously were not, as we didn't expect a cop to be walking in our front door any time soon. I offered to show the cop what was in the bowl, but he refused and asked to talk to the girl, my brother, and I on the front porch.

The first thing the cop did was call my brother and I out for being stoned. I probably was a tiny bit from a few hours earlier, but my brother had not smoked that day. The cop then asked me if I had smoked any marijuana earlier, and I nodded and told him that it took place somewhere other than in the house. He then asked if I had anything at all in the house, and I told him no. We listened to the typical police officer lecture (laying down the worst that can happen, mentioned drug dogs, etc., etc.) for quite a long time. After a while, it became apparent that he was not there to search the house but to simply try and scare my brother and I.

__________________________________________
Here's a recap of everything the cop said / did:
- He said that we were trying to cover something up. We were smoking Honey Banana flavored shisha through a hookah and hadn't smoked marijuana in the house for a couple of days.
- He said he had probable cause to search wherever he wanted in the house due to the smell.
- He called me out for being high, in which I didn't respond.
- He asked if I smoked earlier, and I told him yes, but at a different house.
- He asked if I had any drugs / paraphernalia in the house at all, and I told him no.
- He said that it was not the girl's idea for him to come to the house and that it was his. "If you're gonna blame anyone, blame me" he said.
- He said he didn't want to get our info or anything, he just wanted to help solve the girl's problem.
__________________________________________

The cop left after lecturing us for about thirty minutes and made us agree not to smoke in the house anymore; neither my brother nor I have talked to her since. I told my father, and he was pretty furious about the whole situation. He then called the police station and asked to speak to the officer that showed up at my house that night. The cop must have written a report after he left, and it mentioned that I admitted to him that we were smoking marijuana in the house which is completely untrue. The cop also told him that the girl mentioned drug dealing taking place in the house which is also false, nor has it ever happened. The cop proceeded to tell my father that he would be "checking" on the house periodically, and me telling him that I was smoking in the house (and the smell) is probable cause to search the house in any instance in the future.

After the night that the cop came over, my brother and I made sure the house didn't have anything drug related at all so the girl has nothing to hold against us and we can do what we need to get her out. Even now that everything is out of the house, there are some issues with the whole situation bothering me.

Here are my questions:
- In a rented house, if the girl let in the cop, what would he be able to do in terms of searching? My room was locked at the time.
- Is smell probable cause for future instances?
- Can one instance with nothing done provide probable cause for the future? If so, how long? Can they simply kick my door down if I don't answer?
- Is there any way to refute what the cop has on my file? And how can a cop file me into the system with things that I didn't say, especially considering he told us he had no intention of getting our personal information?
- For future reference, what is the validity of a minuscule amount of marijuana resin present somewhere other than on paraphernalia if no paraphernalia is found? (Ex: A smudge on a desk or a q-tip used to clean a pipe) Is this considered "possession"?

These aren't really drug-related questions, but they also have to do with this situation.
- Is having an affair illegal?
- Is it considered trespassing when the firefighter is in our house without the girl there?
- Can the guy legally have a key to our house without 2/3 of the renters permission?
- Can I have this guy fired for having an affair with someone half his age? The time he spends at my house doing nothing could be better used to care for his 6 year old daughter.

Thanks so much for reading (if you read it all). Sorry it came out so long. The affair question wasn't intended to be taken seriously.

-J.

PS - If it means much, this was the first time I've ever encountered a cop in a negative situation.
 
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xylene

Senior Member
Girl can't give firefighter key.

Police may be able to enter by smell. Contentious issue in private home.

Consider moving and being more discrete about marijuana at all times.
 

smutlydog

Member
Is there any way you can get a hold of the firefighter's wife? I am almost sure she would be very interested in this story. :cool:
 
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