No drugs in cookies teen gave Lake Worth police, lab finds
12:00 AM CDT on Friday, July 11, 2008
By DEBRA DENNIS / The Dallas Morning News
debdennis@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
/ The Dallas Morning News
LAKE WORTH - The case against a teenager accused of delivering
drug-tainted
cookies to police crumbled Thursday after scientific tests revealed no
traces of narcotics.
Christian Phillips, 18, became a cookie monster and the butt of jokes
around
the globe following his arrest Tuesday after he left a basket of treats at
Lake Worth police headquarters. Authorities said then that "field tests"
they conducted on the cookies showed traces of marijuana and LSD.
But lab tests performed by the Tarrant County medical examiner's office
were
negative for drugs, and Mr. Phillips - who had been charged with tampering
with a consumer product - was released from jail shortly after 5 p.m.
Thursday. The felony charge was dropped.
Mr. Phillips, of Watauga, was facing up to 20 years in prison and fine of
$10,000 if he had been convicted. Neither he nor his family would comment
Thursday night.
"These are the facts of the case, and if the lab says it ain't dope,
that's
what I'm going to go with," Lake Worth Police Chief Brett McGuire said.
Mr. Phillips' attorney, L. Patrick Davis, said that his client was
physically fine but that he was "a little upset" about the arrest and
subsequent controversy. He said that neither he nor the family was
surprised
about the negative test results but that no decision has been made whether
to pursue further legal action in the matter.
'Rush to judgment'
In an earlier interview with KTVT-TV (Channel 11), Mr. Phillips' father,
Glenn, said the case against his son amounted to a "huge rush to
judgment."
"People just need to keep rationale here in perspective and not jump the
gun
and accuse people of stuff before we know the full facts," he said.
Christian Phillips' story drew worldwide attention - and scorn.
One Australian news anchor referred to Mr. Phillips as "disgruntled." The
incident was blogged on USA Today's Web site and on a Corvette forum site.
"Tampering with someone elses [sic] food? Lock-up and throw key away," one
blogger wrote.
Another typed, "Donuts dummy, not cookies."
Mr. Davis said that his client was unfairly targeted by almost everyone
who
heard about the case.
"He got convicted before he got a chance," Mr. Davis said. "He got buried
in
the media. He has been derailed, and we need to get him back on course."
Community service
Mr. Phillips was delivering cookies as part of his 80-hour
court-supervised
community service following his arrest last year on charges of assaulting
a
police officer. That charge was reduced to simple assault, a misdemeanor,
and Mr. Phillips was serving court-appointed community service with
Mothers
Against Drunk Driving when he delivered the cookies.
That case was to have been dismissed on Wednesday if Mr. Phillips
successfully completed his community service hours. He was about 10 hours
away, his attorney said.
On June 27, Mr. Phillips was videotaped delivering the snacks to Watauga
police. He delivered more cookies to Blue Mound police Monday night and on
Tuesday delivered another batch at Lake Worth. Officers there were
notified
by Blue Mound police officers that the cookies might be tainted.
Chief McGuire said a preliminary field test conducted on the chocolate
chip
cookies by police detected LSD. A canine was brought in and indicated
drugs
were inside Mr. Phillips' car.
When he was arrested, Mr. Phillips was carrying a list of 25 police
agencies
in Dallas and Tarrant counties. Thirteen of the names had been checked
off.
Officers in some of the jurisdictions, including Fort Worth and Watauga,
ate
the cookies and re****ted no ill effects.
Lake Worth sent the cookies to the medical examiner's officer for a more
thorough review. Officials there conducted more stringent chemical tests
and
a microscopic examination as well as tests involving gas chromatography
and
mass spectrometry.
Officer stands by nose
Blue Mound police also sent cookie samples to the ME's office and those,
too, came back negative for drugs.
But Blue Mound police Lt. Thomas Cain said Thursday that while he respects
and accepts the medical examiner's re****t, he is sure he smelled dope on
the
home-baked Toll House treats.
"They did have a pungent, rancid odor," Lt. Cain said. "They did have the
odor of marijuana. I got within two feet of it; I could smell it."
Blue Mound officers also conducted their own field test that came back
positive for marijuana.
"How do you explain it? I don't know," Lt. Cain said.
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