Cops Raid a House to Find Christmas Trees Under a Grow Light

**AMEX** · 12-08-2008, 10:36 AM

Neatorama
Barry Cooper is a former policeman who now sells DVDs on how not to get busted on drug charges. While I find this approach sort of dubious, his latest "cop-baiting" stunt is quite intriguing: did he show that the police in Odessa, Texas were using illegal means to raid homes?

KopBusters rented a house in Odessa, Texas and began growing two small Christmas trees under a grow light similar to those used for growing marijuana. When faced with a suspected marijuana grow, the police usually use illegal FLIR cameras and/or lie on the search warrant affidavit claiming they have probable cause to raid the house. Instead of conducting a proper investigation which usually leads to no probable cause, the Kops lie on the affidavit claiming a confidential informant saw the plants and/or the police could smell marijuana coming from the suspected house.

The trap was set and less than 24 hours later, the Odessa narcotics unit raided the house only to find KopBuster’s attorney waiting under a system of complex gadgetry and spy cameras that streamed online to the KopBuster’s secret mobile office nearby.

The attorney was handcuffed and later released when eleven KopBuster detectives arrived with the media in tow to question the illegal raid. The police refused to give KopBusters the search warrant affidavit which is suspected to contain the lies regarding the probable cause.

Quote:

The Agitator Blog Archive Gotcha

Saturday, December 6th, 2008

Like Mark Draughn, I’ve been somewhat skeptical of Barry Cooper, the former drug cop turned pitchman for how-to-beat-the-cops videos. He comes off as more of a huckster than a principled whistle-blower, which I think does the good ideas he stands for (police reform) more harm than good.

But damn. I have to hand it to him. This might be one of the ballsiest moves I’ve ever seen.

KopBusters rented a house in Odessa, Texas and began growing two small Christmas trees under a grow light similar to those used for growing marijuana. When faced with a suspected marijuana grow, the police usually use illegal FLIR cameras and/or lie on the search warrant affidavit claiming they have probable cause to raid the house. Instead of conducting a proper investigation which usually leads to no probable cause, the Kops lie on the affidavit claiming a confidential informant saw the plants and/or the police could smell marijuana coming from the suspected house.

The trap was set and less than 24 hours later, the Odessa narcotics unit raided the house only to find KopBuster’s attorney waiting under a system of complex gadgetry and spy cameras that streamed online to the KopBuster’s secret mobile office nearby.

To clarify just a bit, according to Cooper, there was nothing illegal going on the bait house, just two evergreen trees and some grow lamps. There was no probable cause. So a couple of questions come up. First, how did the cops get turned on to the house in the first place? Cooper suspects they were using thermal imaging equipment to detect the grow lamps, a practice the Supreme Court has said is illegal. The second question is, what probable cause did the police put on the affidavit to get a judge to sign off on a search warrant? If there was nothing illegal going on in the house, it’s difficult to conceive of a scenario where either the police or one of their informants didn’t lie to get a warrant.

Cooper chose to bait the Odessa police department because he believes police there instructed an informant to plant marijuana on a woman named Yolanda Madden. She’s currently serving an eight-year sentence for possession with intent to distribute. According to Cooper, the informant actually admitted in federal court that he planted the marijuana. Madden was convicted anyway.

The story’s worth watching, not only to see if the cops themselves are held accountable for this, but whether the local district attorney tries to come up with a crime with which to charge Cooper and his assistants. I can’t imagine such a charge would get very far, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see someone try.

Here’s some local media coverage:

**srt acr** · 12-08-2008, 10:38 AM

fucking fantastic.

**SmervE AttacK** · 12-08-2008, 10:58 AM

Legalize weed so I can get high damnit.

12-08-2008, 10:59 AM

I hate cops.

**Rational Erratic** · 12-08-2008, 11:04 AM

hahahahha, fucking awesome. about time people start setting up cops. i've always wanted to get a small webcam to put in my car in case i get pulled over. i wonder how much setting it up would cost

anyone ever try that?

12-08-2008, 11:10 AM

I've seen a video of a guy who had a camera set up in his car and the cop was threatening to fabricate charges and take him to jail... until he realized there was a camera in the car.

**Opticon** · 12-08-2008, 11:11 AM

My dad has a cheap dashcam that records to a 2 gig SD card... just have to keep it out of the cop's hands.

**Rational Erratic** · 12-08-2008, 11:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xavier

I've seen a video of a guy who had a camera set up in his car and the cop was threatening to fabricate charges and take him to jail... until he realized there was a camera in the car.

yeah, i saw a guy pull up in a big ass raised truck, w/ monitors and stuff. and i noticed he had a camera on the rear view mirror facing out the driver window. i thought that was awesome and want to get one now. i'm assuming the footage gets saved in car somehow, maybe through a nice stereo/pc unit in there. that would be sweet. i'll have to look that up

**husak** · 12-08-2008, 11:14 AM

they should just give up and let us do what we want

**Rational Erratic** · 12-08-2008, 11:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Opticon

My dad has a cheap dashcam that records to a 2 gig SD card... just have to keep it out of the cop's hands.

yeah, see i would want something that that they cant just grab and make disappear. something maybe password protected or something.

12-08-2008, 10:38 AM	#2 (permalink)
srt acr SOT Post Whore Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Philly Burbs Posts: 7,321	fucking fantastic. __________________ SOT - Yeah we're on a drug, it's called "Charlie Sheen" Put your gamertag here too.

12-08-2008, 11:04 AM	#5 (permalink)
Rational Erratic EL Beefcake Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Chandler, HH Posts: 29,905	hahahahha, fucking awesome. about time people start setting up cops. i've always wanted to get a small webcam to put in my car in case i get pulled over. i wonder how much setting it up would cost anyone ever try that? __________________ SOT- There's nothing wrong with crymaxing

12-08-2008, 11:11 AM	#7 (permalink)
Opticon SOT Post Whore Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: SE PA Posts: 13,823	My dad has a cheap dashcam that records to a 2 gig SD card... just have to keep it out of the cop's hands. __________________ [X]

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12-08-2008, 10:59 AM	#4 (permalink)
Xavier Guest Posts: n/a	I hate cops.

12-08-2008, 11:10 AM	#6 (permalink)
Xavier Guest Posts: n/a	I've seen a video of a guy who had a camera set up in his car and the cop was threatening to fabricate charges and take him to jail... until he realized there was a camera in the car.

12-08-2008, 11:14 AM	#9 (permalink)
husak SOT Post Whore Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: MD Posts: 2,769	they should just give up and let us do what we want