Drugs found in Gillett
Three freshmen were arrested Thursday night after the Gillett residence hall staff made a narcotics call to MUPD.
Ethan Matchett was arrested for possession of less than 35 grams of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. Tiffany Taylor was arrested for possession of drug paraphernalia, and Marissa Larkins was arrested for possession by a minor.
“A residence hall staff member reported the odor of marijuana and made the call,” MUPD Capt. Scott Richardson said.
Because the possession charges were under 35 grams and were city ordinance violations, the suspects will be released on city summons.
“Typically, all of our arrests that are city ordinance violations would go to the city prosecutor’s office,” Richardson said. “We have permission from the judge to allow those types of offenses to be released on city summons."
Richardson said both MUPD and the Columbia Police Department follow this procedure.
The students were arrested around 6:40 p.m.
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11:25 p.m., Dec. 29, 2008
Pat said:
2 days earlier to this story, there was a more significant narcotics arrest on campus (see the University Police section): http://www.columbiatribune.com/2008/Dec/20081210ForT001.asp Seeing these two situations so close in time, there are a number of obvious questions: 1. Why report on the lesser arrest, and not on the more substantive one? 2. Why were there state charges filed in one case, but only city summons issued in the other? 3. What are the differences in circumstances which drove the differences in treatment? What were the differences in behavior? Was there additional history (criminal or otherwise) behind the MU student who had state charges? 4. What should MU students be knowledgeable about to avoid more serious state charges? 5. Why not report on the arrest with the more significant charges, and then follow those charges through trial to completion? Wouldn't that make a good story--potentially a better one than highlighting the lighter punishment on 3 other MU freshmen?