– Press release from Inyo County District Attorney
Bishop-area Resident Erin Comeau Convicted by Inyo County Jury on Charges of Possession of Methamphetamine for Sale and Child Endangerment.
Following a three-day jury trial held in the Superior Court of California, County of Inyo, Bishop area resident Erin Comeau was convicted of two separate felony counts of possessing methamphetamine for sale, and, in one of those cases, misdemeanor child endangerment.
The cases arose from two separate investigations; one by the City of Bishop Police Department in February, 2013, and a second by the Inyo Narcotics Enforcement Team in February, 2014. In the 2014 incident, Ms. Comeau was also convicted of misdemeanor child endangerment. In the second case, Ms. Comeau was accused of storing methamphetamine in an ice cream container in the freezer of her home, easily accessible to her children.
The jury also found Ms. Comeau committed both of these offenses while released on bail on other charges, and found her guilty of one count of possessing controlled substance paraphernalia. Sentencing has been set for April 15, 2015.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Dee Shepherd with the ongoing assistance of the Bishop Police Department and the Inyo Narcotics Enforcement Team.
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ok charles o jones… you got me on that one. and i will also admit that meth is more dangerous then ephedrine. on the other hand, i maintain my belief that there are several individuals who frown upon illegal drug use, who at the same time, are guilty of possessing harmful and toxic substances within their homes, that also have the potential to cause harm if ingested by a youngster. i think the term child endangerment is used rather loosly. yes meth is dangerous. but so are alot of other things. it would have been awful if her kids got into her stash. as far as we know, they did not. what troubles me most about this subject is the fact that we continue to fight a battle which we are losing. the same people who want to eliminate the drug problem (lowinyo) also support the policies that perpetuate it. i am not an intelligent or educated individual, and even so, i can see very cleary that the current drug laws and policies are causing more harm than good. so what gives?
ovlove……Good idea there….If I ever happen to come home and find a drug addict in my home burglarizing the place,instead of calling the Sheriff…or worse…I’ll offer him a job and not even bother calling Law Enforcement.And when he’s done working for me,I’ll direct him to you to help with whatever you might need done around your house,yard and kids.
the goverment knows exactly what they are doing. they have got us where they want us. what blows me away are all the idiots who buy into this bull. its not the drugs its the people. guns dont kill people, people do. people die in auto accidents every day we dont outlaw cars? it is complete insanity. how about giving drug offenders a job instead of free food and housing? maybe they wouldnt have to resort to selling drugs if they had a job. or maybe they wouldnt have to steal to support their habit. the problem is they get out of jail and no one wants to hire them, so more often than not, they really dont have a choise.
Having a fair amount of experience dealing with “the government”, I can say they most certainly do not know “exactly what they are doing”. This is why I giggle when I read or listen to the various government conspiracy theories that exist out there. Most of these urban legends give the gov far too much credit.
“The government” (for the most part) is a bunch of well-meaning folks who work in an environment where the right hand often has no idea what the left hand is doing. “The government” is a giant lumbering (and often dysfunctional) machine that lacks the capacity to know “exactly what they are doing”. Again, I think there are many good people working in government. it’s just a system that is too big, with too many moving parts to orchestrate all these conspiracy theories that exist.
Ovlove all of your responses on this subject are SPOT ON.
like I said in my previous post. If the govt tells people something is bad most people swallow it hook line & sinker.
I asked everyone to look up the stats about death rates of drugs. Isn’t that what this should really be about.
WHATEVER DRUGS KILLS THE MOST IS THE SCOURGE OF THE EARTH!!!!!
Am I wrong or am living in the twilight zone.
Ovlove and aggressive progressive get it.
We as taxpayers should absolutely without a doubt be pissed about how are taxpayer dollars are being wasted.
ICJ WOULD ONLY HAVE 10 -20 INMATES INSTEAD OF 70.
KEEP IT UP FELLOW TAXPAYER’S BEFORE YOU KNOW IT “THE WAR ON DRUGS” WILL GO FROM 40 YRS. OLD to 80 YRS OLD.
Insanity do the same thing over & over and hoping for a different result.
not once have i said or suggested dangerous drug use should be legalized or tolerated
ovlove;…I suggest you read your above post before you say anyone is “putting words in your mouth”…..example is right there about in the middle of your comment,stating “If they are toddlers then the freezer is a wise place for a responsible parent who does not want their child to gain access(in this case,access to her meth).And then going on to say how teens would be wise enough to “know the difference between ice cream and meth.”.Geezz!!!
apparently there is some confusion. you are putting words into my mouth. not once have i said or even suggested that dangerous drug use should be legalized or tolerated. do i think driving 100mph should be legal? i can care less. i choose not to drive 100mph, not because it is against the law, but because commonsense tells me it is unsafe. you said it yourself people do it anyway even though it is lawful. when you exceed the speed limit and are caught you have to pay a fine, not sentenced to a lengthy jail term. the punishment should fit the crime.murder traffic violations and drug charges can not be compared in terms of severity. what ifs are irrelevent. what exactly is considered a good parent? i consider my parents good parents. they are hard workers, drug free (as far as i know), blue collar, small town america. growing up.. my siblings and i, along with friends and family often rode in the back of the pick up truck. not just around town or on dirt roads but also on the hwy on trips to bodie or where ever. no seat belts, no camper shell. occassionally we would be directed to grab a beer from the cooler and hand it through the sliding window on the rear windshield between the gun rack. today this would be considered child endangerment. back then, it was not. the point i am trying (unsuccessfully) to make is that if we, as a society want to lower drug abuse and related crime rate, then we need to change our approach. if you have a leaky valve and dont replace it you should not bitch and complain when the floor is wet and begins to rott. jail does not work for these crimes. it is time to find an alternative. and to answer your question.. yes, as a tax payer it pisses me off that we as a country allow the goverment to continue to funnel our hard earned tax dollars down the toilet! and we wonder why our economy is in the state it is in and why so many people are without jobs and use drugs and alcohol to escape. yeah im pissed! if you pay taxes or give a damn about the overall health and safety of your community, you should be too.
ovlove;Are you kidding me saying the freezer is a “responsible” place for someone to keep their meth,or other illegal drugs if they have toddlers,but not if their kids are older?…..are you kidding me?…how about keeping just food,T.V. dinners and ice cubes in the freezer ?…Your defense of this case here is starting to get to me,and I bet others too…You keep saying dangerous drug use should be tolerated and legalized,that 90 % of those that use dangerous drugs don’t have a problem with it,and is not a problem for others.You say drugs,legal or not,are here to say…that we all agree on….should we also say people are going to murder people,so might as well make it legal to do so too ? Should it be legal to drive 100 MPH on the highway since others do it and are going to continue to do it ?Selling meth,doing meth,keeping meth in your families freezer and endangering your children is not a minor drug offense.What would you be posting if this story had a different turn to it and read “Children get into home freezer and die from ingesting meth ” ? Would you suggest treatment for the Mom for that too,cause it could have easily ended that way here.Would you suggest it would be wrong for her to get prison-time if that had happened ? I agree that an important and essential element to a healthy childhood are parents….GOOD parents…not ones that choose to hide their meth in the refrigerator,or anywhere else in the house or yard,for that matter.Or is all this just a disguise because you don’t want to be the one (as a tax payer) to have to be paying for her incarceration ?
i am certain that she is a repeat offender and that this will not be her first visit to the clink. it has been proven time and time again that jail and or the threat of jail, is not a deterent for addicts. JAIL DOES NOT AND WILL NOT REHABILITATE OR CURE DRUG ADDICTION. we have all heard the saying alcoholism is a disease. it is. where do we go to seek treatment for disease? to the doctor. why? to get medicine. drug and alcohol addiction is a social and health issue, whether physical, mental or a combination of the two. like with any other chronic illness, those inflicted, more often than not, do not want to be ill, and so they seek treatment. what is the most important and essential element to ensure a healthy childhood? parents. children who are alienated from their parents or who grow up in the “system” are 10x more likely to abuse drugs and commit crimes. this womens children will absolutely not benifit by putting her behind bars. child endagerment you say? just how old are the kids we are talking about? if they are toddlers then the freezer is a wise place for a responsible parent who does not want their child to gain access. if we are talking teens, i would hope they would recognize the difference between neopolitin and crystal meth. we all have toxic substances within the home that can be potentially fatal if consumed. insecticides, solvents, fertilizer, over the counter meds, to name a few. does that then deem us unfit as a parent? good god NO! it does not. any goverment that deprives a child of their parents as a form of punishment for a minor drug offense, is guilty of the worst form of child endangerment there is. meanwhile, while are tax dollars continue to pay for this nonsense, drug use and availability will continue to rise. until our society begins to treat this issue as a social and health issue, which it is, rather than a criminal one, nothing is going to change. meth is not the scourge of the earth. it is our society and corrupt way of thinking that is.
ovlove;With this one,sounds like an alleged user,but not a dealer..oh,wait,she was convicted of sales!….I can think of one or more that will be better off if she goes to jail for a stint.Her children,especially when they get into the freezer to eat some ice cream.And just maybe some of those she apparently was selling to,maybe getting a strong message as to not to do or hang around these kind of people or maybe they will face this same problem in the future.
the criminal justice system is designed to protect the publics interest. please explain how the publics interests are protected by or will benifit by sentencing this women to jail? whoever her supplier is, has already found a replacement, likewise, whoever she was selling to, has a new connection. the streets are not safer with her behind bars. two years of investigations by two agencies revealed this women has a problem? great job law enforcement. now what? now she and her children are the states financial responsability. who benifits?
you are right, allergy pills are not the same as meth. My point is a drug is a drug. illegal or legal they are all drugs, and have different effects on different people. most people who use drugs are self medicating. to say that every person who uses meth will lie cheat and steal to do so, is crazy. not everyone who has tried this drug or any other drug for that matter, becomes dependent. this is a sterio type. research shows that 90% of drug users are not problematic. meaning your house cleaner, the store clerk, your book keeper could very well use drugs and you wouldnt know one way or another. there is a difference in drug use and abuse. a functional user vs disfunctional user. because someone chooses to consume a toxic substance does not mean that they have no morals. look at the toxic foods people put in their bodies. putting drug offenders in jail does not help them or the rising drug problem, it perpetuates it. and it costs millions of tax dollars doing it. people who commit crimes against other people and property is an entirely different story altogether.
C’mon folks please wake up. The number 1 drug that kills more Americans is booze! I know you hate to hear it. I can hear y’all now saying it’s legal so it’s ok. If our govt. tells you illegal drugs are bad they must be the scourge of the earth!!
Big Ricky since you stand so proudly about your statement about meth.
Go ask any one of the millions of people who have lost a loved one because of a ALCOHOL RELATED
INCIDENT! Ask them what drug is scourge of the earth.
Ask any former Heroin addict which drug is the scourge of the earth.
I’m not here to say that meth is great.
But I will say it’s further down the list.
the war on drugs is a joke.
Oh boy someone was convicted of meth! Congratulations D.A. and INET.
THE WAR ON DRUGS IS ALMOST OVER!! THERE IN RETREAT AFTER 40 YEARS WE FINALLY GOT ‘EM. That’s funny isn’t?
You should all be pissed about the billions of tax payer dollars go to this so called war.
I’m not posting for a bunch of likes on my post.
I want all of us to stop and start looking at things differently. I know it’s scary to actually open your mind and think for yourselves. If your bored Google something. If your a partisan liberal or a partisan conservative go to a alternative website you wouldn’t nnormally go to. Trust me it’s hard cause we naturally like to be with like minded opinions.
Let’s look at things through a different lense.
High Water;.I used to live in a town that was over-run by meth.Robberies on a daily basis.Break-ins,burglaries,violent crimes.And of course,the smaller ID-thefts,petty crimes,theft,etc.They also had a heroin problem,and like 99% of all American towns and cities,the normal DUI’s,and bar-fights,domestics that go with alcohol abuse.In that town,meth was by far the biggest problem for Law Enforcement to deal with.With your seemingly logic,and thinking best to just make drugs legal,maybe you should move to that town I mentioned,and see what it’s like.Only multiply the problem ten-fold if meth was legal and readily available.Meth abuse is a big problem for everyone…not just the users and abusers.Or like “ovlove” states below,saying for 90% of the people doing it,it’s not a problem for them or anyone around them.Quite simple,like BIG Rick states,meth IS the scourge of the Earth.It ruins lives,ruins families,causes a big increase in crime.It ruins towns and cities.I doubt just making it legal would change much of that.
ovlove;.If your trying to tell people ephedrine for colds or allergies is the same thing as Meth bought off the streets,I suggest you check the facts on that before passing on such a foolish statement on a web-site,or for that matter,passing it on anywhere.
I think ovlove was just stating the hypocrisy of the people who support drug laws, who then turn and take a substance over the counter that is clinically proven to be the same product that is deemed dangerous and illegal when the profits don’t go to corporate america…
another hypocrisy nobody is stating about our drug laws and our justice system, the fact when these non-violent individuals or drug users hit the street, after paying their debt to society in the fashion of “doing time”, society does not let them back in society… so they pay there debt to society but society doesn’t seem to let them back in… if we really wanted to help the people and the circumstances that hold them down, we would admit our current practices are backwards approaches for real progress!
to be specific;
Heroin,
Or Marijuana,
Or Ephedrine to say the least all fall into the category of having medicinal benefit’s and is PRESCRIBED by your local doctor, But if found on your person without a prescription, the injustice system will have its way with you.
Yes drugs are bad, but why should a soldier returning from home risk the freedom they fight for, to get the temporary relief from Depression or PTSD because those substances deemed illegal happens to be the only thing that works at the time?
Why should a little kid suffer from a terminal or chronic illness more then they should because the state they reside in is too conservative to accept change (state without medical marijuana)?
Do you really want to talk about facts Low-Inyo? because it seems a lot of us are on the wrong side of FACTS and understanding when it comes to drug laws and the substances..
The history of the drug laws is more like the history of racism in the US..
doctors prescribe ephedrine based drugs regularly that are no different than meth. It is used for treatment of allergies, hyperactivity, fatigue and as a dietary supplement to suppress appettite. Yet some how it is viewed differently when it comes with a prescription. The fact of the matter is this, like it or not, drugs, either legal or illegal, are here to stay. History proves over and over that drug laws do not work. Prescription drugs kill far more people then those obtained on the street. Anyone who thinks locking these people up is going to protect our children from drugs is a fool. It is a waste of time and money.
@ov,
While your opinion on legality of drugs is debatable, what is not debatable is the ill conceived notion that the therapeutic use of ephedrine is no different then the abuse of methamphetamine.
There are many substances in our lives that can be safe when used properly but can be deadly when abused or misused.
also there is not difference in how a drug cartel/gangs fight for turf, compared to how the prescription drug lobbyists and private prison corporation fight for their turf or economic revenue (keeping drug laws in place) = Both very counter-productive for the communities!
And just like any other entity who is okay in their situation, fear change and don’t see a need to change.
charles. would you agree that both prescribed ephedrine and methamphedamine are equally dangerous if a small child were to ingest them?
Seeing as the concentrations are entirely different, no they are not “equally dangerous”.
That said, most meds can be extremely dangerous if misused. Humans can even die from drinking too much water.
BIG Rick;And on top of that,how many people do we know that,in order to buy cigarettes and alcohol they lower themselves to break into homes and business’,sneak around and steal from friends and family,and sometimes even commit worse crimes than that in order to pay for their habit?
. Alcohol doesn’t take over your life after your very first drink… but you hit that pipe, and it will turn you into a lying, thieving, worthless, barely living skeleton, who will say or do anything for that next hit. Knowing this beforehand…why would ANYONE take that first hit ??
Meth may not be the killer that booze and tobacco are (I never said it was) but those who use it are nothing but the walking dead. Methamphetamine IS the scourge of the earth.
Meth is the scourge of the earth…
C’mon Rick
If you researched which drug kills more people in the u.s. Meth isn’t even close . Research the affects of alcohol and the lives it has taken. Just because something is illegal doesn’t mean much.
The War on Drugs is a joke. These people need help not jail. “There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.” – Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855)
I wonder if she is kicking her self right now for not taking the deal the DA’s Officer gave her, (Drug Court). Well have fun in ICJ, I hear the food there is pretty good>>
Maybe she likes jail.