[kellyhound]

An 87-year-old Indiana farmer busted with $2.9 million worth of cocaine in the bed of his pickup truck claims his career as a drug courier was launched at gunpoint.

A boisterous Leo Sharp was released on bond at a court appearance Monday, three days after his arrest while driving on Interstate 94 near Ann Arbor, Mich.

Sharp, who is married with children, works full-time growing legitimate, exotic plants for a horticulture company in Indiana. During the 1960s, Sharp also ran a Las Vegas tour company in Detroit.

A state trooper pulled Sharp over on I-94 near Ann Arbor for following too closely and improper lane use. The trooper asked Sharp for permission to search his vehicle, but Sharp refused.

That's when Apollo, a drug-sniffing dog, was called to the scene.

The dog found the staggering 229-pound stash of cocaine, with 104 bricks packed inside black plastic bags.

"You're dealing with a man forced to do what I did at gunpoint," Sharp told the judge before his lawyer advised the senior citizen to keep quiet.

The quirky Sharp promised to make his next court date on Nov. 10, assuring U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Randon, "You're the boss."

Sharp also asked at one point for access to medication taken by officers: "I could have a stroke."

And he offered the judge a random apology: "I'm sorry, sir, to be so troublesome."

The volume of cocaine left Sharp facing a 10-year prison stint if convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine.

Sharp, before leaving Michigan for his farm in Michigan City, Ind., said he was planning to write a book about the case.

Randon ordered a mental health evaluation for the octogenarian defendant.

[Illusion]

Dude looks coked out

[Steve]

Only ten years if found guilty, I thought the sentence would have been double that in the USA.

[Mr.Goodbar]

Legalise all drugs.

Some cops and judges agree:

Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) is a pro-legalization advocacy group made of active and retired police, judges, prosecutors, prison wardens, FBI and DEA agents and others. Members of the group have been on the front lines in the war on drugs and that is where they get their credability. LEAP members are conscientious objectors to the war on drugs. Their purpose is to end the drug war entirely, not just for marijuana.

[Faline]

Originally Posted by Steve. ↗

Only ten years if found guilty, I thought the sentence would have been double that in the USA.

Doubt he will live out the 10 anyway.

[xxdead_angelxx]

Originally Posted by Kelly ↗

Doubt he will live out the 10 anyway.

That's a life sentence for him technically.

[Wolf]

Some try to use their age, among other things, as an excuse when caught. He did the crime. He needs to take responsibility for it.

[GanjaLoco]

He will only do 4 years really.. You get a five-year sentence for possession of at least 5 grams of crack cocaine. Someone must possess at least 500 grams of powder cocaine to face the same mandatory sentence. That means if it was crack he would have gotten 100 years, and it would be a shitload more. Funny how that works.

[Kim]

Originally Posted by Steve. ↗

Only ten years if found guilty, I thought the sentence would have been double that in the USA.

Last time I saw a map, Indiana was part of the USA.

[Opioid_Freud]

Originally Posted by Mr.Goodbar ↗

Legalise all drugs.

Some cops and judges agree:

Totally agree with you on that, although it's clearly the most logical option most people allow logic to escape them when it comes to the imposed morality pertaining to drug use and have an obscured view of the amount of failure surrounding the drug war economically, socioeconomically, and geopolitically.

With that said; this is the grandpa I wish I always had.