Michael Phelps won't face prosecution in S.C. drug investigation

The sheriff in South Carolina who has been investigating a party where Michael Phelps apparently had his picture taken with a marijuana bong in hand just announced that he does not have enough evidence to prosecute the Olympian or anyone else who was present at the November party.

Richland County (S.C.) Sheriff Leon Lott, in a news release sent to reporters via e-mail, states that: "Having thoroughly investigated this matter, we do not believe we have enough evidence to prosecute anyone that was present at the November party.

"Michael Phelps and I agree that something positive needs to come from this incident and that is a message of not using drugs."

Here's the complete news release:

Statement by Richland County Sheriff LEON LOTT:

I had nothing to do with Michael Phelps coming to Columbia and making a bad decision. He did that. His bad decision and the highly published photo placed me and the Richland County Sheriff's Department in a no win situation. Ignore it and be criticized or address it and be criticized. I chose to do what was right. While to some it may not have been the most popular decision, it was and is the right decision because of the law and the negative impact it could have on our children in Richland County.

Michael Phelps is truly an American sports hero. I, along with the rest of America, cheered his victories and felt pride when he stood on the podium to receive his medals.

Even with his star status he is still obligated to obey the laws of our state.  He is not immune from his responsibilities to do what is right. He is also human and can make a mistake.

I took an obligation in my oath as Sheriff to enforce the law equally and fairly without any personal bias or prejudice.

With Michael Phelps I had to remove his medals, his hero status, and look at him as any other person.

I felt it was important that he be treated fairly, equally and that a message be conveyed that illegal drug use is illegal by anyone.

Our investigation focused on the possession, use and distribution of illegal drugs in Richland County. The incident in November only initiated our investigation, which resulted in the arrests of adults who were at the time of their arrests in possession of illegal drugs. Contrary to some, this was not a special investigation or one that impacted our resources on other crimes.  This was in fact a short investigation and simple investigation conducted by narcotics investigators whose sole responsibility is to investigate drug violations.  The time and resources were quite minimal when compared to other drug investigations. In the time this investigation was being conducted we solved a murder, ATM robberies and numerous other crimes. 

The house of the November party had previously been the subject of a drug case and other crimes. The related house in Irmo had also been the subject of a previous drug case. Both locations were the source of problems in our community. 

The charges of those arrested in this investigation will be handled as we do in other similar type arrests.

As with any cop, my responsibility is to enforce the law, not to create it or ignore it. Marijuana in the state of South Carolina is illegal and I am obligated to enforce the law again equally, fairly and without personal bias. I would have been remiss in my duty as Sheriff if I would have ignored the November incident and subsequent drug violations we discovered during our investigation. 

By ignoring the November incident, I would have been sending a message of tolerance and condoning the use of illegal drugs. I could not do that, nor have I ever done that. I would be a hypocrite in view of our extensive Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program that I have been active in for many years. How can we teach kids through DARE not to do drugs, and then look the other way if it is an important person?

Our message has to be loud, clear, and consistent, don't do drugs.   

I have always advocated that we cannot arrest our way out of the drug problem.  We must do it through enforcement and education such as the DARE program utilizes.

Having thoroughly investigated this matter, we do not believe we have enough evidence to prosecute anyone that was present at the November party. 

Michael Phelps and I agree that something positive needs to come from this incident and that is a message of not using drugs.

He can speak on this issue from his perspective.

My perspective is that the law pertains to everyone and our drug laws are to be enforced.

My hope again is that we all take this incident and make something positive from it. Parents please take this opportunity to talk with your children about illegal drug use. During my 34 years in law enforcement I have seen lives and communities destroyed due to drugs.  We all must work together to protect our children and our communities. Now is the time to educate our young people, the decisions they make today can impact them for the rest of their lives."

-- Greg Johnson

Photo: Michael Phelps is shown during the Beijing Games last August. Credit: Timothy Clary / AFP / Getty Images

Comments

[Paul M]

Thank god I live in California where Marijuana use is almost as good as legal. Prohibition fails yet again.

[David Worl]

What a waste of time and money pursuing the case against Michael Phelps.. Millions of teen and adults smoke marijuana, fortunately, they are not jailed. (There would not be enough room.) Why not tax and control America's largest cash crop? The prohibition of alcohol created more problems than its controlled sale, I suggest the same would be true of marijuana. Think about it.

[andrew Klymkowsky]

This is ridiculous, the only reason the case was looked into at all is because the sheriff wanted publicity. Everyone knew from the start nothing would come of it, first of all a picture isn't enough evidence. Hell, a video is not enough evidence in the US because who knows what is actually going on it could be oregano. The investigation of this incident was an infringement of Michael's rights as well as his two friends who were arrested. They have no hard evidence to warrant any investigation, other than michael phelps admitting to the photo. Should it be legal for the police to give drug tests or hardcore investigate anyone who says "I smoked weed"? No, you need to have reasonable cause to investigate someone, doing so with anything less is an unacceptable infringement on the rights of the individual in question.

[Claudette Charlton]

I agree with Sheriff Lott. He followed the law and the oath of office he took. I too am very proud of Michael Phelps at what he has accomplished at such an early age. That has not changed despite this unfortunate event. He used bad judgment at the party and hope he has learned from this incident. Hopefully, he will not lose any more endorsements. (I was disappointed in what Kelloggs did). He just needs to stay focused.

[AAM]

It's nice to hear that they're not prosecuting for such a lame law. Lott himself acknowledges that the popular opinion is that smoking pot is not such a big deal, and it is not. If you disagree with that, then you need to do some thorough, unbiased, research and re-think your opinion on it. If you are a smoker, drinker, or user of prescription drugs, and you still believe that marijuana should be illegal, then you are a hypocrite in need of some education. It is far beyond time to end marijuana prohibition. There are way to many tax dollars spent on the asinine laws that keep it illegal. Lets not be afraid to finally admit that the US Government was wrong about pot as it was about alcohol when it was prohibited.

[Sparky]

Since they made such a big deal out of this, it's sent a message to every kid in America: You can smoke pot, and still become an Olympic gold medalist.

[RI Mark]

The Sheriff should have known that he could not bust Phelps without the MJ (possession, provided lab tests indicated positive for MJ) or the bong (possession of drug paraphernalia) . The Sheriff used this as a platform to claim his fifteen minutes of fame. I appreciate that the Sheriff strongly believes that he is "obligated to enforce the law... equally, fairly and without personal bias". Problem is that most law enforcement officers, in my experience, will not arrest or prosecute other law enforcement officers; they have a free pass when it comes to things like domestic assault and DUI. so the message i get is that the laws are applied equally to all, except brother officers.

[Annah M]

It's nice to hear that they're not prosecuting for such a lame law. Lott himself acknowledges that the popular opinion is that smoking pot is not such a big deal, and it is not. If you disagree with that, then you need to do some thorough, unbiased, research and re-think your opinion on it. If you are a smoker, drinker, or user of prescription drugs, and you still believe that marijuana should be illegal, then you are a hypocrite in need of some education. It is far beyond time to end marijuana prohibition. There are way to many tax dollars spent on the asinine laws that keep it illegal. Lets not be afraid to finally admit that the US Government was wrong about pot as it was about alcohol when it was prohibited.

[Greg Miller]

I'm glad you live in CA too. So many potheads there you can't even balance your budget. Stay out of my state. Great statement by Leon Lott. So much pressure on him to ignore the facts.

[pgc]

Ummm...yeah, the sheriff is technically right, but only on technicalities. The bigger problem that government refuses to adequately address is all the money wasted on enforcing felony laws against pot, and the connection between the illegality of pot and the crimes CREATED by that status. The drug is touted as a gateway drug to harder drugs like heroin or meth - not really a verifiable statistic since the whole drug world creates it own subculture where lots of social and legal issues go haywire as a result - so the linkage is tainted. Pot laws are zealously prosecuted, sometimes with great socio-economic bias. There are places in this country where you can get life in prison for possession with intent to sell - and they don't have to prove you were selling, only that you had enough to sell. This is no different than the fanaticism of the Prohibition Party - with equally disastrous results. Pot is not any more or less a problem than booze - and believe me I think alcohol problems are huge in this country - I just don't think locking people up for using milder, more widely used drugs is the answer. Yeah, we need to keep drugs like PCP off the streets because of the freakishly violent problems they cause (way more than just a drunken brawl), but pot is just a dingy high like a few martinis (less so, what's the worst that happens - you get fat from the munchies and can't hold down a job -- isn't that sorta just like joe sixpack without the sixpack?) - treat it that way for cryin' out loud and get the darn tax money from it -- we are in the middle of a depression - that is what the focus should be. Let the potheads end up in Betty Ford holding their heads up high, at least knowing it was a legal high that got them into their fix. P.S. - I hate pot, don't use it, lived around it, think it sucks big time, but I still think we need a reality check here.

[McLieberman]

Richland County (S.C.) Sheriff Leon Lott, Senator Lindsey Graham wants to give you a medal for preserving Freedom/Liberty/Peace.! That Terrorist Bong and Pinko Commie Pothead Michael Phelps need to be incarcerated, I feel so much better that South Carolina is so much safer with Leon Lott on the job.

South Carolina, America, and the Taxpayers are thrilled that you have decided not to waste anymore time or money of the people.

So Leon, put another American Flag on your truck bumper and head to your NASCAR or Swamp buggy racing event! You can always have a job as the poster boy for the DOE's, No Child Left Behind aka FAILURE!

Ignorance with Authority = Disaster

[BradMN]

The message is 'Don't use drugs"? Did anyone else get that message? Umm, is caffeine a drug? Is alcohol? Is Aspirin? Maybe with a reach he could say, 'Don't do things against the law'. But come on, we're all using some drugs.

I took the message, our Presidents have used Marijuana, Doctors prescribe it (those that can), teaches use it, business men use it, artist use it, and yes,even gold medalists use it. And yet, for some reason we're told not to use it by law? When will someone in political power stand up and say something is wrong here, get government laws off our bodies and let us make our own decisions about what we put in them.

[Tim Buck]

What would have been his charge for "doing something" out of a water pipe (bong) in November at this point? They could've been smoking dog poop for all we know, heck, it could've even been empty the whole entire time, who knows. This may have been something to check into & investigate the night the party took place, right after the photo was taken, but months later equals a waste of manpower, time & taxpayer's money!!!!

[Herbert Morin]

All I saw was a picture of a man that looked like Michael Phelps with his lips on a plastic tube (could have been cleaning out a hummingbird feeder). Next thing it's international news and the laws involved. Strange world.

[Jack]

Phelps, what are you doing in a state like S.C. where they have the time to investigate people for having parties. Sounds like an official got a little free publicity on your celebrity. Move to California.

[larry]

Lesson from Phelps' incident: Breakfast cereals don't mix with marijuana.

[BJ]

So if we have a party where we all do drugs, as long as we have an American Olympic hero there, nobody gets in trouble???

OK! I'm throwing a BIG "party" tonight and I'm inviting the women's gymnastics team, Misty May Treanor and Karrie Webb! Y'all's invited, too!

[Paul]

Everyone who can should have their picture taken sucking on a bong in front of the city sign. Then send it to the sheriff so he can investigated each and every incident. That should bankrupt the county. By his own logic he would be oath bound to investigate each picture to the fullest end possible. What a moron. Any normal person would know you could never prove he was smoking pot when the picture was taken. Was he?, probably. Can you prove it?, no. I hope the citizens of this county vote this dill weed out of office as he was just trying to make a name for himself and it backfired.