Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Hi. I recently had the police called on me for parking my car on the side of the road and "looking suspicious". I didnt realize there were burglaries in the area recently. I was only parking to go for a walk in my neighborhood where there is a nice view before I check on my house. Anyway, I was pulled over on my way back to my house. I did not have a drivers license for the state I was at only an ID card and a ny DL. I made the mistake of talking to them too much. They were very aggressive and pushy. I first told them I lived on the street to show I was not somewhere I shouldnt have been. After 20 minutes of refusing searches and explaining I was just going for a walk. I finally agreed for them to search my car after being told they will get a warrant for my house and car. They said they just want to make sure I dont have any bombs and they will let me go. They found nothing except a ph meter for gardening in a bucket. They then wanted to search my house. I said no and that I had to get going. They told me I was detained but not arrested yet. They smelled cannabis coming from my house and then told me if i prove I had my medical license and was not growing more than the legal limit, they will let me go. I let them in and they couldnt take anything because i had my license and was well under the limit. I just recently moved into a friends house and moved all my things there. They complained that it was too cold to live in the house and that there was no blankets or much clothes or food. There was some clothes in my car and a blanket. They told me to prove them wrong by showing them garbage and remnants of meals. I showed them there was garbage from food and groceries. They said my story didnt add up and i clearly didnt live there. I only had some plants in one room and the two other rooms had nothing in them besides some equipment for storage and signs that the other two rooms were used for a larger operation (8 lights in each room). All that was left was some tables and electric boxes and small holes in the ceiling and a couple in the floor of the closet for venting. They said i just finished a "huge" operation and demanded to know where my other house was. They also said they know I send marijuana across the country to my home town because "thats what east coasters do"(they saw my drivers license from another state). That is not true so I denied that and told them I live there but am cleaning all my clothing and in between cleaning. They asked the mail man if he recognized me and he said no. Its not that small a town and I have waived to the mail man plenty of times in the past. They asked all my neighbors if they know my car and they said they dont know anything to avoid talking to them. The police then said I was under arrest for obstruction of justice-lying to a police officer. I have lived there with clothes, food and blankets for 3 years and I just moved my things to my friends house to stay with him only a couple weeks before this happened. All the neighbors thought i was a good neighbor and even told that to my landlady when she asked the neighbors about me after the police notified her. They also turned my power off in the house (because the fire marshal came and confirmed that the electric boxes in the rooms werent up to code even though a professional electrician did it. They said I wasnt allowed to live there without power or heat. They asked how much my rent was and how I was paying for it but told them its not important. While i was in the police car, I heard them talking to eachother about getting the IRS involved. They also said they will check if there has been any history of packages coming or going to my house. It seemed like they would never do that and they were just trying to scare me and thought they were on to something. I think I covered everything. My question is can this lead to an investigation? They took pictures but did not take anything because I didnt have anything illegal in the house or did anything illegal. I also would like some advice on what to do now and what to do if the police harrass me again. Thankyou and sorry for the long message

2 Answers from Attorneys

Related Questions & Answers

More Criminal Law questions and answers in California

Looking for something else?