Who Investigates Possession With Intent Cases In Maryland?
Possession with intent to distribute (PWID) charges are some of the most serious types of drug charges you can face. Different agencies and law enforcement departments investigate and enforce drug regulations in Maryland. These investigations, and the evidence collected as a result, can play a major role in your PWID case.
Below are frequently asked questions about investigations of PWID charges answered by Maryland drug lawyer Seth Okin.
What Are Some Agencies That Can Be Involved in Investigating a PWID Case?
It varies depending on the county. Some counties have drug detectives who are undercover agents. In other counties, there are regular beat cops. There are more agencies in larger counties. The District Attorney’s office is always involved but depending on what’s going on, the FBI could get involved as well. So the drug trade is the number one thing at least on the agenda of both the states and the federal government. They want to catch drug dealers.
Bottom-line is they see it as a true imposition for those of us who pay taxes and obey laws because what happens with drug dealers is violence. The association is there. It’s a public safety concern. They’ll spend as money as they can to take drug dealers off the streets permanently.
Federal vs State Possession With Intent Cases
Federal cases typically involve a larger enterprise. If they can tell, and we’re talking about a substantial, substantial drugs where our numbers are not just 40 or 50 grams, or a 100 grams. You’re a thousand grams plus. You’re talking major number right there. That’s when something starts to click that this is a little bit more than just a little distribution.
If they can tie you to something that is a multi-state issue, then it’s going to be federal. At that point, the federal government is going to come down and you’re going to be dealing with the FBI.
They’re looking for those big cases. They’re looking for mass distribution. If you’re crossing state lines, if you’re delivering state lines, or if you’re bringing stuff in from other countries. If they can prove that you’re at that top level, then it’s going to end up in federal court. There’s usually no way to stop them.
Because they’re going to come in and say:
“Sorry, State of Maryland, we’re going to take jurisdiction because this is crossing a state line. This is someone under investigation in multiple states and we know that they’re transporting over that line.”
And once that happens, federal government gets their hands on you.
Evidence State and Federal Agencies Look For
A lot of cases have wiretaps involved with them. They’re able to get a wiretap and record conversations. Dealers and distributors are usually pretty keen on what they should or shouldn’t say and some use code words. Officers will testify that in their training, knowledge, and experience that a slang term is used for a certain drug they were investigating.
So they can catch you in conversation. They can catch you at surveillance. If you throw your trash out on the side of the road then that’s public property search. They’re looking for everything they can to build a stronger case to show that you’re a distributor of drugs.
Sometimes their interests are not only to get you but also get the person you’re getting the drugs from. They’re looking for the biggest distributors out there. They want the people at the top. So if they get a lot of the little people and some of them talk, they can go higher and higher. Does that mean that they’ll offer you a good deal? Sometimes it’s good. Sometimes it’s not great. But it can be better if they’re going to get a conviction.