This is just to much.
Posted on Thu, Feb. 12, 2009
Lawyer: At least 8 arrested in attempt to build Phelps drug case
By RICK BRUNDRETT
rbrundrett@thestate.com
As many as eight people have been arrested on drug charges in an effort to build a marijuana possession case against Olympic swimming champion Michael Phelps, an attorney for one of the defendants confirmed this morning.
Longtime Columbia attorney Dick Harpootlian said Richland County Sheriff's deputies arrested his client - whom he declined to identify -- in a raid Saturday at his Lake Murray-area home after seizing a small amount of marijuana.
"He's sitting there on Saturday, and 12 cops kick in the door with guns drawn, search his house and find 5, maybe 6, grams of pot," Harpootlian said."They never asked him, 'Who sold you the pot?' ... They were asking, 'Were you at the party with Michael Phelps? Did you see him using marijuana?' It was all about Michael Phelps."
Local defense attorney Joseph McCulloch also said he is representing someone in the case.
Harpootlian, a former solicitor for Richland and Kershaw counties, said in his entire legal career he had "never seen a search warrant executed for simple possession of marijuana."
Harpootlian said deputies arrested another person who was with his client, adding the pair were roommates at the Blossom Street home where Phelps attended a November party. As many as six other people have been charged connection with the Richland County Sheriff's Department investigation, several of whom were charged after deputies recently raided the Blossom Street home, he said.
"All these people have been asked the same questions," Harpootlian said. "It's all about Michael Phelps."
Phelps has publicly confirmed he was pictured holding a bong at the party, though he hasn't admitted specifically using marijuana.
Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott has said he would charge Phelps if there is evidence a crime was committed, though no charges have been issued.
Harpootlian said his client - a 21-year-old currently on leave from USC - was with Phelps at the November party but told investigators he didn't see Phelps using marijuana.
Still, deputies seized four laptop computers, a desktop computer and a computer storage drive from his client's home -- supposedly to try to find evidence against Phelps, Harpootlian said, adding they refused his request Wednesday to return the items to his client.
"I don't think they had the authority to seize them to begin with," he said.
Harpootlian said his client was taken to jail but was released later on a personal recognizance bond, which means he didn't have to put up any bail money. He said he is trying to get his client into a "conditional discharge" program that would allow the possession charge to be eventually dismissed, noting that in his experience, "99 percent" of first-time marijuana possession cases are handled that way.
Harpootlian questioned why Lott is devoting large amount of resources on simple marijuana possession cases against his client and others to try to implicate Phelps.
"This is marijuana -- 50 percent of all Americans have smoked marijuana at one time or another," Harpootlian said. "A college kid smoking pot -- I don't endorse it ... but should you be committing very important resources to it?"
Lott was out of town this morning and could not be reached for comment. He previously has declined to discuss the case against Harpootlian's client with The State.
"As soon as we're ready to release information on this case we will and we're still in the middle of this investigation," Lt. Chris Cowan, sheriff's department spokesman, told the Associated Press.
McCulloch said his client and the roommate used to live at the house where the party that Phelps apparently attended took place, but they have since moved out of the city. Richland County deputies searched the alleged party home and then searched the room-mates' new home in Irmo and made the arrests, he said.
He said his client was out of town when the swimmer visited the city and said he doubted that anything the client or his roommate — who has a different lawyer — told police would assist them in the case against Phelps.
"Our clients answered questions but I don't know that their information would be helpful to law enforcement," he said. "It seems to me that Richland County has a host of its own crime problems much more serious than a kid featured in a photograph with a bong in his hand."
On a "Good Morning America" broadcast this morning, McCulloch characterized the arrests as "a fascination, if not an effort, to destroy a public hero."
Under South Carolina law, possession of one ounce or less of marijuana is a misdemeanor that carries a fine up to $200 and 30 days in jail for the first offense. Possession of drug paraphernalia is a $500 fine.
The photo and Lott’s vow to investigate Phelps have been hotly debated in the media here and abroad. There have been op-ed columns in, among others, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and The Washington Post and on Newsweek.com, some criticizing Phelps and some, Lott.
The notorious photo of the champion Olympic swimmer appears to have been taken at the house at 2201 Blossom St., where five witnesses interviewed by The State say Phelps partied.
The house, which sits on a hill, has a wraparound porch that early last week was littered with pizza boxes, broken beer bottles and a keg. Pictures of scantily clad women were taped to the front door.
Two security cameras guard the porch, sending a live stream to a flat-screen television just inside the front door.
(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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