Related article: Drug-laced treats given to Texas cops
By Angela K. Brown
The Associated Press
FORT WORTH, Texas — A teenager accused of delivering drug-laced cookies to a dozen police stations was the victim of overzealous officers who had very little evidence indicating drugs were inside the treats, his attorney said Thursday.
L. Patrick Davis said no traces of LSD have been found inside the cookies taken to police in Lake Worth, where Christian V. Phillips remained jailed on $75,000 bond on a charge of tampering with a consumer product.
“Clearly there’s no LSD, and how long does it take to test a chocolate-chip cookie for marijuana?” Davis told The Associated Press on Thursday. “A lot of things don’t add up.”
Davis also contends the bond is too high and has asked a judge to reduce it. A hearing is set for Monday.
Phillips, 18, was arrested Tuesday after Lake Worth officers smelled marijuana in the basket and their preliminary tests detected LSD, Chief Brett McGuire said. The cookies and others delivered to Blue Mound police were being tested by the Tarrant County medical examiner, who did not immediately return calls Thursday to the AP.
Some officers in Fort Worth and Watauga ate the cookies but did not become ill, and they recently had blood tests to determine whether drugs are in their systems.
“I’m really upset that this thing has gotten to this point, that this kid has gotten convicted in the media before any evidence was collected,” Davis said.
Phillips told detectives his friend may have been smoking pot while he was baking, but denied contaminating the goodies or trying to harm anyone, McGuire has said.
Davis said Phillips was delivering the cookies for Mothers Against Drunk Driving as part of community service work after he was arrested last year at a party in Watauga. MADD also has confirmed that he was doing work for the organization.
Last year Phillips was charged with assault of a public servant, a felony, but it was reduced to assault with bodily injury, a misdemeanor. He did not plead guilty but was sentenced to an anger management class and about 80 hours of community service, Davis said. He was not put on probation.
He graduated from high school in May and was planning to attend college this fall.
“His life’s been derailed, and I hope he can pick up the pieces,” Davis said.