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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Sam Levin in San Francisco

Paranoid men driving high with 20lb of marijuana call police on themselves

marijuana
Leland Ayala-Doliente, 22, and Holland Sward, 23, were arrested after calling police to arrest them for trying to smuggle 20 pounds of marijuana across several states while high. Photograph: Stephen Brashear/Getty Images

Two self-proclaimed “dumbasses” driving high in Idaho with 20 pounds of marijuana called the police on themselves after they got “spooked” about cops following them.

East Idaho News released audio of a 911 call from last year that led to the drug trafficking arrests of Leland Ayala-Doliente, 22, and Holland Sward, 23, who were apparently so high and paranoid they were certain undercover cops were tailing them.

East Idaho News released audio of a 911 call of Leland Ayala-Doliente, who said he was convinced police were following him.

The two young men were traveling from Las Vegas to Montana on 23 January when they became increasingly concerned that they were going to be arrested after crossing the Idaho border, according to police in Rexburg, a city in eastern Idaho.

Eventually, the men decided to speed up the process of their arrest and called cops – politely requesting that they “just end it”.

While pulled over near a gas station and an Applebee’s restaurant, Ayala-Doliente told a confused Madison County dispatcher: “Hi, uh, we’re the two dumbasses that got caught trying to bring some stuff through your border and all your cops are just driving around us like a bunch of jack wagons, and I’d just really would like for you guys to end it. If you could help me out with that, we would like to just get on with it.”

“You got caught doing what?” the dispatcher replied.

“Ahh, God, OK,” Ayala-Doliente continued. “We kind of got spooked here trying to bring some stuff across your Idaho border. … A bunch of your cops are driving around in a bunch of civilian cars not wanting to pick us up. I don’t know what’s the deal.”

He added: “It’s getting cold out here, man. I just want to get warm.”

When police showed up, the men had their hands behind their heads, and Sward told an officer: “We’re surrendering,” according to court records obtained by East Idaho News.

The two were each charged with a felony count of marijuana trafficking.

A Rexburg police captain told the news website that no police officers were following them at the time.

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