No, You Can’t Pay Your Bail With Drug Money
Police know that there are few scarier experiences than driving along one of South Florida’s delightfully flat roads, just minding your business and enjoying the effects of the evening’s weed, and then an hour later, being in a jail cell-like room in a police station, with a possible prison sentence awaiting you. Some people are so intimidated that they immediately open up and confess to everything they did and some things they didn’t do. Whether these interrogation tactics are legal is not the issue now, and neither is whether they should be legal. The important thing to remember now is that, if you can manage to stay calm and invoke your right to be silent, soon the court will set a bail amount, and then the only thing standing between you and thinking clearly about your case from the comfort of your home or a lawyer’s office will be money. Here, our Miami drug crimes defense lawyer explains how a homegrown South Florida entrepreneur had several near misses with the law and how the origin of her bail money may determine the outcome of her case.
A Sweet Smile Can Only Get You Out of Drug Charges So Many Times
It only takes a small quantity of illegal drugs to result in felony charges for drug possession, and it only takes one felony conviction to exclude you from voting in elections and to turn up a negative mark on every background check for employment or housing. Given how, by merely possessing a prescription pill that was not prescribed to you or bringing your stash of weed to one of Florida’s less 420 friendly counties, you are not harming or endangering anyone, Florida courts sometimes allow people charged with drug possession to go through pretrial diversion instead of pleading guilty or going to trial. If you complete a pretrial diversion program, also known as drug court, you must comply with the terms of probation and undergo substance abuse disorder treatment, but if you are successful, then by the end of a year, the court will dismiss your charges, and you can go on with your life with a clean record.
Such leniency is only available to first-time defendants, though, which is why most drug court participants are young. If you get caught with drugs again, you have the same options as everyone else, none of which are especially appealing. The only way you can get your charges dropped this time is if the evidence against you is insufficient or if the police or prosecution violated your rights.
This Is How the Cookie Crumbles
Alexandra Ramroopsingh was one of many Americans who, new to adulthood in uncertain times, began small businesses out of their homes during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, Ramroopsingh was 22 years old and living with her parents in Margate when she decided to monetize her love of baking. She established Rocky’s Sweet Treats, a small business in which Ramroopsingh bakes cakes and cookies and delivers them by hand to customers throughout Florida’s Gold Coast.
Like many other Floridians of their generation, the proprietress and customers of Rocky’s Sweet Treats apparently also share a passion for weed. Three times in the past year, police have pulled over Ramroopsingh’s car while she was making a delivery of baked treats, and three times, they have also found controlled substances. The first time, the court dismissed the case without incident. The second time, Ramroopsingh was charged with misdemeanor drug possession, and a judge sentenced her to a year of probation, but four days later, the court dismissed the case.
The third time, police reported seeing Ramroopsingh leaving a suspected drug house in Deerfield Beach, and an officer pulled her over almost immediately after she left. The officer searched the car because it smelled like weed. In the back seat, there was a gray backpack containing weed, cannabis edibles, psychedelic mushrooms, MDMA, and Adderall. According to the police report, Ramroopsingh told the officer that she sometimes sold drugs to the customers of her bake shop and that she had a gun with her, which she was carrying for protection. Now Ramroopsingh is facing felony charges for drug trafficking and possession with intent to deliver. She is not facing charges for the weapon, which implies that she owns it legally. As of the most recent news reports, she posted bail, but she was waiting for a hearing where the court would determine whether the bail money was the proceeds of illegal drug sales.
Contact Our Criminal Defense Attorneys
A South Florida criminal defense lawyer can help you if you are facing charges for selling or transporting illegal drugs. Contact Ratzan & Faccidomo in Miami, Florida for a confidential consultation about your case.
Source:
local10.com/news/local/2024/06/15/rockys-sweet-treats-owner-arrested-again-for-alleged-drug-dealing-in-broward/
