Three Patterson Mill High School students have been arrested on felony drug charges as part of an ongoing investigation that began at the school on March 30.
A 14-year-old student was arrested on felony charges of possession of a controlled dangerous substance with intent to distribute on school property, and misdemeanor charges of disruption of school property. The student was charged after he admitted having marijuana in a book bag in his locker and gave the book bag to a school vice-principal, who then found the substance in a pocket of the bag.
Upon further investigation by the Harford County Sheriffs Office, a second 14-year-old Patterson Mill student was arrested on April 1, on felony charges of conspiracy to possess a controlled dangerous substance with intent to distribute.
A third student, Quontes Devon Hoffler, was also later arrested, on felony charges of distribution of a controlled dangerous substance and conspiracy to distribute. Hoffler’s name was released by the Harford County Sheriff’s Office because he is 18 years old. The names of the other students were withheld because they are minors.
“There is an ongoing investigation,” HCSO spokesperson Monica Worrell said Thursday. Anyone with information is encouraged to contact the Sheriff’s Office or the HCSO resource officer at Patterson Mill.
In a separate incident, another 14-year-old Patterson Mill High School student was arrested on April 22, 2010 with intent to distribute a fake controlled dangerous substance after he was found to have a plastic bag containing oregano at the school. According to the police report, the student said he got the spice from home was trying to sell it in order to make money.
“According to the police report, the student said he got the spice from home was trying to sell it in order to make money”…..When I was 14 I made money by delivering papers, cutting lawns and shoveling snow. My, how times have changed. I weep for our future.
Felony charges for a little bit of plant leaves, and another kid charged with intent to distribute spices. Congrats the the Harford County Keystone Kops for another major bust. I can’t tell you how much safer I feel knowing that pizza spices are not being peddled at the local schools.
It’s hard to fathom that after all these years we’re still wasting time and money arresting people for possessing this harmless drug. I guess its an easy bust for the otherwise useless HCSP. When my house was burglarized they acted like they could not care less, took a report and left and that was it. Maybe I should have reported my oregano missing.
Looks like Doug is trying to justify his desire to break certain laws. Also, it’s sad when seemingly intelligent adults fall for the “but it’s harmless” fallacy. It sure seems harmless if you ignore all of the studies that show otherwise.
It’s not harmless and as long as it’s illegal then they should be charged accordingly. It’s still a crime to possess a substance resembling CDS, but is really something harmless (like oregano.) Just imagine what would’ve happened to the idiot kid had he sold some of that oregano to the wrong person. Do you really think nothing would’ve happened? That’s a good way to get the crap kicked out of you at least. Drugs are rampant in every high school in the school.
Doug, if you want to break the law, go ahead, but don’t complain when you eventually get caught, arrested, and end up in court. I’m sorry your house was burglarized, but frequently there’s little to nothing to go on, at least initially. The patrol deputy who initially gets sent to handle the call is not responsible for investigating it. The officer takes the report, gathers as much as information as possible, processes the scene (if there’s anything to process and frequently there’s not), and it gets sent to a detective to handle. If there’s no suspect information, no evidence from your house to process, your neighbors saw nothing, and you don’t have serial numbers (or even model numbers) for what was stolen then there really is not much to investigate, unfortunately.
I’m with Doug, surely the police have more pressing crimes to solve and prevent. Also, I have a close friend whose juvenile son was arrested for possession with the intent to distribute and he barely received a slap on the wrist. The court officers don’t seem to take this very seriously so why waste time and resources on this??
I really can’t believe you people. It’s okay for a 14 year old (or anyone for that matter) to break the law as long as it’s a law that you think is pointless? What does that teach these kids? Enforce the law as it stands and protect those of us who still have brain cells because we have chosen not to use this “harmless” substance! Come on!
Gotta love the people that have no idea what they are talking about. Please cite the studies with links to them so we can see which ones ‘prove’ that marijuana is dangerous (bet you can’t).
I may not agree with the children taking it to school or trying to sell it to their classmates, but treating children like criminals and slandering a person for most likely their first adult infraction is wrong.
Please remember that prohibition didn’t work for alcohol and it isn’t working for marijuana either. This ‘war in drugs’ costs US(as in tax payers) millions of dollars a year and IS NOT WORKING!! The only reason violent crimes happen because of marijuana is BECAUSE IT IS ILLEGAL!!! If you want to stop the violent crimes and the counter culture of pot smokers then legalize it. You as parents have the ability to control whether your children do drugs or not.
So how about instead of sitting at the computer worrying about the big bad drug dealers why not get involved in your own children’s lives and stop expecting people to raise your kids for you.
Spoken like a true pothead.
It is not slander if it is true!
I am against any substance that alters consciousness. Yes, I smoked pot 50 years ago when I was a teenager and it did me no harm and I have been known to hoist a few. But with gray hair, I have come to learn that I was courting disaster with this behavior. I also realize that teenagers must rebel and very few can learn from the mistakes of their elders. We can rail all we want about the devil weed, and they will try it. So we should at least mitigate its use by legalizing it. It certainly is much less harmful than alcohol which is the leading drug problem in the US.
Either way dealing in school is not acceptable!
You are a true moron. People’s need for drugs is a major cause of the thefts and burglaries that happen (DOUG – you too!).
Your associating those that do a small amount occasionally with the rampant everyday addictions that are growing in frequency.
I go to this school. I know Quontes… so this shocking
Sadly, the fact that the prohibitionists group the people that commit crimes for their drugs with the people that do not is the reason anti-drug rhetoric has worked for so long..
The poster above resorts to name calling when their personal views are questioned is proof.
The person called cannabis dangerous and has yet to provide evidence to support their claims. I will post links later as my droid dislikes posting here.
Yes, I’m currently being a productive member of society while being pro legalization. Imagine that.
It’s sad how the school I graduated from has all these problems. The sad thing is that one of the minors is my next door neighbor. The people at this school better straighten up before this school gets a bad reputation.
It saddens me how a school so nice as Patterson Mill is becoming infamous for students being arrested for selling pizza spices and snorting crystal light. Really, neither one is a drug, I understand the point of enforcing the law to teach youngins a lesson.. but really? Way to go Harford County.. explains why I tell people I’m from Baltimore instead of this hole.
And Anonymous, we are happy you tell people that you are from Baltimore, everyone knows that they have a lot fewer problems down there.
For one, selling pizza spices is actually stealing from people. I imagine if you went to buy a product and were sold another worthless imitation, you might be angered, or maybe that applies only to legal substances. To everyone concerned (except the “dealer”) it was an illegal transaction which makes it an illegal transaction by intent.
Good Job HCSO and I am pretty sure that one deputies time was taken up on this investigation who is assigned to the school and whose sole responsibility is to investigate and enforce laws that are broken on the schools property by its students and staff.