You Are Under arrest!

[Gregory Matthews]

During my time in the military, I once served as a chaplain to a large military police unit.  As such I got to know a number of people who were convicted of crimes and spent time in prison for very stupid mistakes in thinking that they could get away with it.  I will mention one:

This was a young soldier, of low rank and, who was married and living in military housing.  He was accused of some wrong doing that I have forgotten.  A warrant was issued by a judge to search his home.  During that search, a cardboard box was discovered that contained $100,000 in cash!  But, they had not expected to find such.  So, the warrant did not list cash as an item to be discovered.  So, in compliance with the law, after inventory, the cash was returned to the soldier.

The soldier thought that he was off the hook.  What he did not understand was that every where he went, at any time of the day or night, he was accompanied by a law enforcement official.  This included him going to the military airport and using forged papers flying to other parts of the world on a Friday and returning on a Sunday.  On every flight, he was accompanied by a law enforcement official of which he had no knowledge.  That person accompanied him wherever he went when he got off the flight.  In addition, all of the luggage that he carried on the flights was carefully inspected.  This went on for several weeks.

After several weeks, the end came.   Ten (10) solders were arrested for smuggling drugs into the United States!

Folks, if you are a person of low income who is found to have $100,000 in cash, that is going to get the attention of the authorities.

 

NOTE: You may wonder how a person so stupid could come up with forged papers that allowed him to fly on military air craft as he did.  He didn't.  The people who paid him to smuggle the drugs came up with the required paperwork and all of the instructions needed to travel.  They had the knowledge.