Florida man spends 41 days in jail for heroin that was actually laundry detergent
Police in Florida arrested and jailed a man for 41 days on charges for trafficking heroin, only to discover that the "drugs" they actually found was laundry detergent, writes Joseph Misulonas.
Matt Crull was sleeping in his van when officers approached him saying they had heard reports about a suspicious vehicle. One of the officers found a bag of Tide laundry detergent in the van, and conducted a field test that he claimed came up positive for marijuana. They then arrested Crull, who was charged with trafficking heroin and held on a $500,000 bond. Crull spent 41 days in prison before being released after police realized that it was just laundry detergent.
It's not quite clear how law enforcement figured out that the "heroin" was actually detergent. The Martin County Sheriff's Office said that they have fired deputy deputy Steven O’Leary, who arrested at least 11 people including Crull on drug charges who were all proven to be innocent.
The question is how does it take 41 days to find out the heroin you confiscated isn't actually heroin? Don't they have labs where they can test this stuff immediately? And what is this sheriff's office doing that one deputy can arrest a dozen people on bogus drug charges before anyone realizes he's doing it?
No wonder law enforcement wants to keep marijuana illegal. It could be a gateway drug to Tide pods!
