Cocaine wasn't detected; bonehead move was

Herlad Net

An Everett man attending a hearing at the county courthouse shows his stash by mistake

Some crooks just don't get it: There's no metal in cocaine.

A 35-year-old Everett man walked into the Snohomish County Courthouse on Friday to attend a court hearing on a charge of illegal possession of stolen property.

He strolled up to the security area, where metal objects must be placed in a basket for inspection while visitors walk through a metal detector.

The man emptied his pockets, taking out a bag of a material courthouse marshal Mark San Diego deemed suspicious, deputy prosecutor John Adcock said.

San Diego, who was standing nearby, took the man aside and called for an Everett police officer, who did a field test on the material, Adcock said.

It turned out to be cocaine.

The man was promptly booked into the Snohomish County Jail for possession of illegal drugs.

The man didn't even need to take the drug out of his pocket, Adcock said. The metal detector would not have detected cocaine.