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http://www.hometownannapolis.com/news/top/2009/06/16-12/Mid-suspected-of-smuggling-pot.html
This could be the plot for an NCIS episode.
A Naval Academy junior is being held for allegedly bringing 150 pounds of marijuana into the United States from Mexico, Navy officials said.
"He is in the brig here (in San Diego) and Naval Criminal Investigative Service has assumed the investigation," Doug Sayers, deputy director of public affairs for Navy Region Southwest, said yesterday.
Sayers said details were sketchy, and it was not clear how the midshipman second class allegedly was transporting the drug. It also was not known if he was suspected of acting alone.
The midshipman, 24, whose name was not released, was detained Wednesday at the re-entry point at San Ysidro, Calif., just north of the Mexican border, Sayers said.
"U.S. Customs detected something that caused them to (pull) him over," Sayers said.
Customs officials alerted the Navy to the arrest, he said.
Naval Academy officials referred all questions to Sayers.
Sayers said "charges have not been preferred."
"We are waiting to see what happens next," he said.
If convicted under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the midshipman faces up to 15 years in prison, a dishonorable discharge and forfeiture of all pay.
"That is a really bad offense," said attorney Charles Gittins, a military law expert who graduated from the Naval Academy in 1979.
Gittins said he was not familiar with this particular case, but did not recall ever seeing a midshipman charged with possessing such a large amount of marijuana.
"He's got Leavenworth ahead of him now," Gittins said, referring to the United States Disciplinary Barracks in Kansas.
"Leavenworth," as it is called, is the only maximum-security facility in the U.S. military, and is used to house enlisted male prisoners with sentences of more than five years and commissioned officers, as well as prisoners convicted of national security violations, according to military publications.
There is a presumption under the uniform code that possessing more than 30 grams (about 1.06 ounces) of marijuana indicates an intention to distribute the drug.
Midshipmen typically are away from the Naval Academy this time of year, undergoing training programs with the fleet and Marine Corps.
San Diego is the largest Navy base on the West Coast and is the primary home port for the Pacific Fleet. As such, it attracts a number of midshipmen each year.
Major drug offenses involving midshipmen are rare.
Five mids were imprisoned and 15 were expelled after authorities broke up a drug ring at the academy in late 1995.
That case came to light when two midshipmen were arrested in a Glen Burnie motel for attempting to purchase 200 doses of LSD from undercover Navy investigators. One midshipman, when questioned, admitted he was part of a group whose members combined their money to buy the hallucinogenic drug and distribute it at the academy.
Upon learning of the arrests, then-Superintendent Adm. Charles R. Larson ordered the entire Brigade of Midshipmen to undergo urine testing. No midshipman tested positive for drug use.
This could be the plot for an NCIS episode.