Pubdate: Thu, 6 Mar 2003 Source: Boulder Weekly (CO) Copyright: 2003 Boulder Weekly Contact: http://www.boulderweekly.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/57 Author: Ron Bain A ROLL OF THE DICE Watch out if you try to buy marijuana on University Hill in Boulder. Your cash could be stolen or, worse yet, you might end up dead. Law enforcement officials disagree on exactly how many of these drug rip-offs occur, but Sheriff Joe Pelle thinks they are vastly under-reported. "It's really common," says Pelle, a former Boulder Police Department commander. "In my last couple of years at the police department, we were getting up to 30 reports a year. If we get 20 to 30 reports in a year, I'm assuming there's maybe 10 times that many." Kurt Weiler, a commander with the BPD detective division, says only four drug jackings were reported in Boulder in 2001 and only two were reported in 2002. But he agrees that the vast majority of the crimes are never reported to police. "I think this is a crime which by its very nature would be under-reported," Commander Weiler says. "I don't think that's something that's tracked specifically." Perhaps the best-known case of drug jacking occurred in October 2002. A group of five teen-agers went to the Hill to buy some pot. One of them-Charlie Castaway, 14-ended up dead of a gunshot wound to the chest. Police say the case illustrates how much potential for violence exists in drug jackings. They also show how a relatively common occurrence in Boulder-heading out to buy a bag-can become a nightmare. Rip-off goes awry Pieced together from interviews with Charlie's immediate family, arrest warrants for the two suspects, and transcripts of arraignment proceedings, this is what allegedly occurred on Oct. 25, 2002: That afternoon, Charlie Castaway was at home in Lafayette, chopping firewood and planning on attending the nearby birthday party of a friend. Two friends drove up in a stolen green Honda. Charlie's brother, Martin, and the others persuaded Charlie to abandon his birthday party plans and go for a joyride to Boulder. Martin got behind the wheel. First they drove to Broomfield to pick up another friend and then drove to the Hill in Boulder. Parking near 13th and College, the five teen-agers got out of the car and began a conversation with a man later identified as Antoine Davires Harris of Denver, who was allegedly accompanied by Tiffany Rosebud. Martin and one of the other boys sat in Harris' car for a few minutes, allegedly working out a deal. During police questioning later, Martin reportedly admitted that his only intention was to steal either marijuana or cash from Harris. But Harris may have had the same plan. As the conversation continued, he flashed a gun at Martin. Martin and his friend jumped out of Harris' car and returned to the stolen Honda. At least one of the teens in the Honda demanded that Martin chase Harris' vehicle, and a short pursuit on Euclid Avenue ensued. In a matter of moments, Harris' vehicle stopped in front of the Honda. The teens reported seeing an arm stick out of the driver's side window of the Chevy and hearing a pop. Then Charlie, holding up his shirt to reveal a bullet hole, cried out, "I'm hit! I'm hit!" Martin drove immediately to the Fox Theatre and made at least one other phone call before calling 911. Charlie Castaway was removed from the car and taken to Boulder Community Hospital. He was declared dead shortly before 9 p.m. After hearing about the shooting on his police radio, an off-duty Nederland police officer, Steve Davis, saw the suspect's vehicle make an illegal high-speed wide turn to enter the Boulder turnpike, and followed long enough to get a license plate. Harris was last seen heading toward Broomfield at 90 mph with someone-allegedly Rosebud-in the passenger seat. Boulder police continue to seek leads as to the whereabouts of Antoine Harris, but the BPD's Commander Weiler says Harris "could be anywhere." According to Sheriff Pelle, Harris might be living in Nigeria with his father. "His dad is sort of infamous, too. He was Antonio Harris, who was a CU football player who was convicted of a number of sexual assaults in the '80s," Pelle says. Rosebud voluntarily waived extradition from Mexico and turned herself in to San Diego authorities in January. She faces a charge of aggravated robbery relating to the theft of $80 to $90 worth of marijuana in a separate incident that occurred the afternoon of the day that Charlie Castaway was shot. Charlie's mother, Valerie Peterson, believes the bullet that killed Charlie may have been meant for his brother, Martin, who is in the Boulder County jail for probation violations. Charlie probably went with Martin to keep his older brother out of trouble, she speculates. Charlie was a good kid, Peterson says. He enjoyed helping others, babysat the family's youngest child, was semi-vegetarian, taught himself to play piano and skateboard, and thrived in a home-school environment. "I will never hear what Charlie has to say of this," Peterson says. "I do know that he had been to the Hill probably hundreds of times in the last seven years without getting into any trouble." Preying on trust Sheriff Pelle says Charlie's death is an example of why the War on Drugs is "BS." "What we're doing is some community policing," he says. "The Hill is a magnet. We've tried to control the open-air aspect of the drug dealing up there. Part of what leads to this problem is an open-air atmosphere." With its reputation for drug availability, the Hill also extends an open invitation to outsiders to come in and take advantage of the naivete and trust of Boulder pot-smokers. "A couple of pretty nasty assaults and two shootings have happened," says Pelle. Marijuana is usually mentioned during these crimes, but isn't always present, the sheriff says. Sometimes people are just looking for an excuse to rip off some cash from people seeking pot, he explains. But there are other methods, as well. And drug jackings and home burglaries targeting drugs have occurred in other parts of Boulder and Boulder County, Pelle says. In one incident-allegedly tied to Harris and Rosebud as well-a Boulder woman shared a joint only to be assaulted and have her remaining pot stolen. Vraja Meberg reported that theft on the bike path after five days had passed; she recognized photos of shooting suspect Harris printed in local newspapers. On Oct. 30, she told Boulder police that on Oct. 25 a man matching Harris' description had stolen a quarter-ounce of marijuana from her, assisted by a woman matching Rosebud's description. Meberg hesitated to make the report because she was afraid she would be charged with dealing drugs. According to police and court records, Meberg claims she was walking home on the bike path about noon on Oct. 25 when a young man and his girlfriend-later identified as Harris and Rosebud- approached her and asked to buy marijuana. They told Meberg that they had been fighting and were tense because they had no marijuana. Meberg reportedly felt sorry for the pair and offered to let them smoke a joint from a quarter-ounce of pot she had with her. But she told them she couldn't roll joints and handed Harris the bag of pot and some rolling papers. They reportedly rolled a joint and smoked it, with Meberg taking only one toke. Harris allegedly asked her if she would sell him the entire bag. After some discussion, Meberg and Harris arrived at a price of $80 for the bag. Harris told Meberg that he only had large bills and asked her repeatedly if she had any change (Pelle says rip-off artists often try to verify that their intended victims have cash on them). She said she did not and suggested that they go to a nearby convenience store to get change. Meberg said Harris agreed verbally, putting the marijuana in a loose pants pocket and saying, "I'll hold on to this." Then Harris told her he was going to keep the marijuana and that he would have to pay her later. Meberg explained that was not the way things worked and asked for her marijuana back. Harris reportedly told Meberg that he was poor, that she could always get more pot and that he could take her backpack, too, if he wanted it. She reached for Harris' pants pocket to retrieve her pot, but she felt her head struck from behind, where Rosebud was standing. Harris allegedly showed her something in the waistband of his pants that might have been a gun. The two argued loudly in front of Meberg's workplace, and one of Meberg's coworker came out to see what was the matter. The coworker escorted Meberg into their building, from where she could see Harris across the street in the skateboard park. Meberg says Harris stood yelling and gesturing for about 10 minutes, then left the neighborhood on foot. Buyer and seller beware Drug-jackers have also wrangled invitations into people's homes, only to hold them at gunpoint, assault them and steal their belongings. But the sheriff says most rip-offs occur in alley or in remotely parked cars. "Usually they'll meet somebody on the street or on a street corner. They'll make arrangements for a quantity or whatever-they'll say, 'Yeah, meet me in the alley,' try to get them off into a secluded place, and that's where they'll rip them off," Pelle says. "Once in a while, we get a drug robbery in a house. That occurs all over town, not just on the Hill." Law enforcement all over the nation deals with drug rip-offs, the sheriff says. "I know it goes on all over the place. The term 'drug rip' is a common law enforcement term-everybody knows what you're talking about." The safest thing to do, Pelle says, other than abstaining, is to buy pot only from people you know and trust. "Know your drug dealer, I guess," Pelle says. "Don't deal with strangers. Don't agree to meet people in alleys." Pelle says he's not sure there's a simple solution to the problem. "First of all, I'm not a national policy maker, and neither is the police department," he says. "Naturally the solution is to put a cop on every corner and a narc in every bar, and you displace the drug dealers from one location like the Hill, take it out of the neighborhood, make more people fearful to deal with people they don't know." But many people aren't comfortable with that level of enforcement, he says. Pelle realizes that some Boulder citizens want no drug law enforcement, while others insist on more drug law enforcement. Pelle says it's a no-win situation for police. But recent violence shows that Boulder's open-air marijuana market can be dangerous for everyone involved, Pelle says. It's a case of buyer-and seller-beware. - --- MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart