Armed woman who posted snaps smoking weed on social media convicted

Woman also ran her vehicle into a snowbank, with police reporting there was a clear cannabis smell coming from the car.

It took only less than two hours for an Iowa jury to find a 23-year-old woman guilty of possessing firearms while being a cannabis user.

The physical evidence may have accounted for the rapid decision-making, including pictures the woman had posted on social media showing her holding a weed blunt and speaking about cannabis use during a recorded telephone call.

“She continued to possess the firearms until law enforcement officers seized them on July 22, 2021,” notes a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Iowa.

The woman faces a possible maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, a $317,500 fine and three years of supervised release following any imprisonment.

Beyond the social media posts and being found with guns, the statement reports law enforcement officials also encountered the woman in February 2021, after she drove her car into a snowbank.

During this encounter, officers smelled the odour of marijuana from her vehicle and “eventually located marijuana throughout the vehicle.”

A search of her apartment later that year in July further revealed “marijuana and other items of drug paraphernalia,” the attorney’s office reports.

Possession of any amount of marijuana in Iowa is classified as a misdemeanour, according to Criminal Defense Lawyer. First offenders will face up to six months in jail, a fine of up to $1,270 or both. A second offence could result in as long as a year in jail, a higher fine or both.

That said, the case was brought as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods, which the statement defines as “the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts.”

Sentencing before a district judge will be set after a presentence report is prepared. The woman will remain in custody pending sentencing.

Posting snaps of things like cannabis and guns is clearly not advisable.

Three U.K. teens learned this lesson the hard way last fall after displaying pictures of them holding machetes, knives and a gun.

In the U.S during the summer of 2020, a Utah man whose Snapchat handle was “VitusGod” couldn’t avoid earthly police efforts to bring down his suspected drug dealing business available via Snapchat. Beyond facing charges of possession or use of a controlled substance and possession or use of drug paraphernalia, he was arrested on warrants for past alleged crimes.

And late last year, a 33-year-old woman in North Carolina announced her plans to prepare a joint and consume it on Facebook Live  but ended up being arrested before she could get the big show going.