DORM RAID! PLEASE HELP urgent

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
Pennsylvania

The cops randomly showed up at my dorm room and I (stupidly) let them in. They did a light search and found; a pocket scale in my drawer with a box of ziplock bags next to it, a plastic bag with 3 twenty dollar bills in it in my sock drawer (across the room), and a cigar tube/case with two miniscule weed crumbs at the bottom (less than .1 grams). They also took a bag that had the box to the scale and an empty box of cigars. Then they took my phone and said they were going to get a warrant to look at my phone history/records. My friend told me they were able to bring up texts from 2 years ago on his phone. Assuming they search my history to 2 years back, they will find numerous texts about drug deals (none within a week or two of the dorm raid). I also have a clean record as of right now. Is this enough evidence to convict me of intent to sell? How about conspiracy to sell? What do you think I will get charged with? Please help, I really need it considering I am already in a very bad circumstance

selby710 said:

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
Pennsylvania

The cops randomly showed up at my dorm room and I (stupidly) let them in. They did a light search and found; a pocket scale in my drawer with a box of ziplock bags next to it, a plastic bag with 3 twenty dollar bills in it in my sock drawer (across the room), and a cigar tube/case with two miniscule weed crumbs at the bottom (less than .1 grams). They also took a bag that had the box to the scale and an empty box of cigars. Then they took my phone and said they were going to get a warrant to look at my phone history/records. My friend told me they were able to bring up texts from 2 years ago on his phone. Assuming they search my history to 2 years back, they will find numerous texts about drug deals (none within a week or two of the dorm raid). I also have a clean record as of right now. Is this enough evidence to convict me of intent to sell? How about conspiracy to sell? What do you think I will get charged with? Please help, I really need it considering I am already in a very bad circumstance

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The scale and bags are enough to establish intent to sell. Text messages from your phone proving you are a drug dealer will just be the irrefutable evidence that will end your college career and present you with the chance to live a new life as a convicted felon.

selby710 said:

The cops randomly showed up at my dorm room

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I doubt it was random.

Get a lawyer.

Come on, I cant be that doomed. I realize this is very bad. But to say that I am that screwed, I feel, is dramatized. I personally know a friend who got caught selling oxy's and she got kicked out of school for one semester and went through a program where her record will be cleared upon finishing. The only thing that leads me to believe there is some truth in the gravity of your replies is that neither I nor my family have any money. And my friend got a very good lawyer. I doubt a public defender will be able to save me or do near what my friend's lawyer did for him.

selby710 said:

Come on, I cant be that doomed. I realize this is very bad. But to say that I am that screwed, I feel, is dramatized. I personally know a friend who got caught selling oxy's and she got kicked out of school for one semester and went through a program where her record will be cleared upon finishing. The only thing that leads me to believe there is some truth in the gravity of your replies is that neither I nor my family have any money. And my friend got a very good lawyer. I doubt a public defender will be able to save me or do near what my friend's lawyer did for him.

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Your "friend" also changed sex at the end of your story.

selby710 said:

And my friend got a very good lawyer.

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Find out what your friend paid, and see if you can scrape together your nickles. A plea agreement is less time consuming (costs less) than a trial, so it may not be as expensive as you think.

The OP actually thinks the cops just go around randomly asking to search dorm rooms?

well obviously it wasnt completely random, but the police have searched over 100 rooms this past week. The slightest tip will cause a search.

selby710 said:

well obviously it wasnt completely random, but the police have searched over 100 rooms this past week. The slightest tip will cause a search.

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It seems that the slightest tip will cause an investigation. The search was caused by the consent.

Stevef said:

The search was caused by the consent.

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It was a dorm room. I'm willing to bet that OP signed a document stating that the university has the right to search.

selby710 said:

well obviously it wasnt completely random, but the police have searched over 100 rooms this past week. The slightest tip will cause a search.

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It seems the university is trying to eradicate the drug dealers from it's dormitories. You are apparently one of them. If you have FASFA you can kiss that money good-bye and expect to start paying back any monies you have already received immediately.

ERAUPIKE said:

It seems the university is trying to eradicate the drug dealers from it's dormitories. You are apparently one of them. If you have FASFA you can kiss that money good-bye and expect to start paying back any monies you have already received immediately.

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This is what I was thinking. Forget possibly getting kicked out of school for a semester - you can kiss financial aid goodbye. And if your family has no money, and you no longer qualify for ANY government financial assistance for school (pell grants, stafford loans, perkins loans) you can forget school altogether.

Hope you're making as much as a drug dealer as you would have with that degree.

ERAUPIKE said:

If you have FASFA you can kiss that money good-bye and expect to start paying back any monies you have already received immediately.

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Please point to a source that shows that student aid monies received prior to a conviction (not an arrest) are to be repaid in the event of a drug conviction.

Engaging in hyperbole is merely dramatic, incorrect hyperbole borders on the absurd.

At this point the police have not even arrested this person. Hardly the strong irrefutable case.

In the real world a speck of weed, three ziplocs, 60 bucks and a scale is not a stellar case.

The text messages also may not even see the light of a courtroom, for a dozen different reasons. The most straightforward being that digital forensics is expensive, and their are plenty of cases where the dealer is caught holding actual product.

I'm not gonna blow sunshine up anyone's bongwater, but no ones 'life is over' because at worst they may be ineligible for fafsa for 2 years.

ElvinMelvin said:

It was a dorm room. I'm willing to bet that OP signed a document stating that the university has the right to search.

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There is no way any university public or private would unequivocably force students to submit to warrentless searches by the police of their dorm rooms. This is as laughable as saying an apartment complex could force such a requirement on their tenants, or a motel room on their guests. The OP could have said no and if the police forced their way in anything they found would be inadmissable.

xylene said:

Please point to a source that shows that student aid monies received prior to a conviction (not an arrest) are to be repaid in the event of a drug conviction.

Engaging in hyperbole is merely dramatic, incorrect hyperbole borders on the absurd.

At this point the police have not even arrested this person. Hardly the strong irrefutable case.

In the real world a speck of weed, three ziplocs, 60 bucks and a scale is not a stellar case.

The text messages also may not even see the light of a courtroom, for a dozen different reasons. The most straightforward being that digital forensics is expensive, and their are plenty of cases where the dealer is caught holding actual product.

I'm not gonna blow sunshine up anyone's bongwater, but no ones 'life is over' because at worst they may be ineligible for fafsa for 2 years.

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First of all, it was a box of ziploc bags, not three.

That is the point of a student loan, it is a loan. If you are no longer enrolled in a school then you have to repay the loan. If the OP remains in school, applies for FASFA again and is then convicted that semester he will be required to immediately pay back any monies received after that conviction.

"According to the United States Department
of Education, if a student is convicted of a
drug offense after receiving Federal aid
money, he or she must notify the Financial
Aid department immediately and that
student will become ineligible for further
aid and also be required to pay back any
and all aid received after the conviction.."

In the real world possession of narcotics is possession of narcotics.

In the spirit of your post, please cite a source that will show that possession of a scale, money, and baggies along with possession of narcotics will not result in an intent to sell charge.

How about a source that will show that police officers will not extract data from a phone because it is very expensive?