Established 1826 — Oldest College Newspaper West of the Alleghenies

Police Beat (09/02/14)

By Staff

Pot calling his roommate guilty

At 10:56 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 28, the Fire Department was summoned to a Miami University student's home on W. Vine St. by a smoke detector alarm. Upon entering, the firefighters found a prescription pill bottle containing marijuana, a red grinder and a glass pipe. The resident of the home called 911, and police confiscated the paraphernalia. The resident claimed it was his roommate's, who was not home at that time, though he did provide police with his roommate's contact information. The Oxford Police successfully made contact with the suspect, who then described the confiscated items and received all but the pill bottle full of drugs back. The alleged drugs have been sent to the Miami Valley Crime Lab and charges of Possession of Drugs and Marijuana Drug Paraphernalia are pending based on results.

Keep it classy, not grassy

At 2:22 a.m. on Saturday, an officer observed a male student passed out on W. Walnut. The upper part of the male's body was laying in the grass while his legs were sprawled in the street. The male was unresponsive, so the officer summoned the Life Squad. Though the male had two over-21 wristbands and an Ohio driver's license that placed his age at 22, the officer found a real Ohio license in a hidden compartment of the wallet that placed the young man at only 19 years of age. The over-21 ID was later found to be a canceled license belonging to a different person. The suspect was charged with Sales to and Use by Underage Persons, Certain Acts Prohibited and Intoxication: Harmful Condition. He was transferred to McCullough-Hyde for observation.

"Instascam"

At 2:27 p.m. on Sunday, a female student residing in Oxford West Apartments alerted police that she had been a victim of an Instagram scam. After seeing posts from a couple friends holding large amounts of cash promoting a money scheme, and being assured by those persons through their Instagram accounts that the program was 100 percent real, the victim contacted the host of the money scheme account on Instagram. The host then contacted her via text message, instructing her to purchase a gift card for $350 then transfer the PIN and Zip Code of the card to them so they could access the funds. They would add a zero to the end of the balance then refund her a large portion of the cash. The victim was assured that this was completely legal and legitimate. She purchased the gift card and transferred the money to the host then received a text saying they wanted her Instagram account information. Shortly after, she received an additional text from an unknown number claiming that the host was an "undercover officer" investigating her for participating in money laundering and that they wanted to post a scam alert using her Instagram account, and only then would she receive her money. The victim did not respond but contacted Oxford Police for the initial report and has not responded to further OPD queries about the case.