Posted on 02/07/2014 3:53:13 PM PST by MarkBsnr
Galveston, Texas (CBS HOUSTON) – Former McGruff the Crime Dog actor, John R. Morales, has been sentenced to 16 years in prison following his guilty plea three years after police seized 1,000 marijuana plants, 27 weapons – including a grenade launcher, and 9,000 rounds of ammunition from his home.
The man who played the famous “Take a bit out of crime” dog was arrested in 2011 after Galveston police and drug-sniffing dogs pulled over the McGruff actor for speeding, the Houston Chronicle reports. Authorities found diagrams of two indoor pot-growing operations sitting on the front seat, and multiple pot seeds stored in the trunk of his Infinity.
Police raided Morales’ home and found the multitude of marijuana plants, ammunition and weapons, which included a grenade launcher, according to court documents obtained by News Fix Now. On Monday, the now 41-year-old former actor pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 16 years in prison. Morales insisted that he was nonviolent, but U.S. District Judge Vanessa Gilmore stated that, “Everything I read about you makes you seem like a scary person.” McGruff the Crime Dog is a cartoon bloodhound that was created by global advertising company Saatchi & Saatchi and the Ad Council in the early 1980s for the National Crime Prevention Council used by U.S. police in spreading crime awareness. The dog is often played by actors wearing the character’s rain-coat costume as McGruff visits schools, does commercials and engages children through educational videos.
An Alzheimer’s patient???
If I was on the jury it would hang.
Not gonna convict someone of something that is quickly becoming legal across the states.
Not gonna convict because a rifle has a tube mounted under the front either.
Maybe they sentenced him in dog years.
That is without a doubt banana republic or statist dictator type stuff.
Yeah, I have more than that here in my office.
Was 1,000 plants personal use or production for sale?
It was a victimless crime either way, nobody’s property, liberty, health, life or safety was taken as a result of the weapons or the pot possession. That should be all that is relevant.
WTF??? 16 YEARS for pot and some weapons? That should be 180 days tops. I don't know what's worse, this or the life sentence for Jamarius Thomas' grandma for selling crack.
He has grounds for a mistrial I would think, based on the subjective nature of this Judge’s silly remark “A Scary Person?” Really? Do we lock people up just because they give us the heebie-jeebies? I that case all of the Obama Czars should have been locked up, with keys properly thrown far, far away. Judge Gilmore is likely somebody who would convict a toddler over a Pop Tart ‘Gun’. “You SCARED ME! You little B%%stard! Lock him up!!! She screams, while lifting her petticoat.
I don’t know if her remarks are actionable or not but they were way outside the impartial stance a judge should take. If nothing else it’s one more in a sea of red flags that our government is steering the country into rocky shoals.
IMPARTIALITY! That’s the term I was looking for. She needs to watch it, playing Queen Commander of the Courtroom.
“Does no one proofread or edit anymore?”
Careful, the grammar-nazi hunters will be all over you.
“Was 1,000 plants personal use or production for sale?”
These laws usually define an amount above which it is presumed to be for sale.
What? I gotta go underground for a while. Later.
No excuse for lazy writing, especially for a TV news website.
Do you have a link to the earlier story? I can’t find it.
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