Drug Court and The Feckless Justice System Part 3

The Rochester Police Department arrested who turned out to be Nathan Bell. It took less than an hour from the time I realized we had been robbed. There was proof that he was the one. He even left a perfect footprint on the back of a sheet of paper that had fallen on the floor when he had been rummaging through my stuff in my living room. He handed a cop Rick’s wallet. Both of those things proved he has been in our home. I had been told that was important because they were still not sure if he was working with someone else, and he could have said that someone gave him the wallet, and the guns, that the cop had seen him toss while he was running into the woods.

We found the bag with my purse and electronics in a neighbor’s yard. A few days before I had rolled quarters, about $110 worth. They were lined up in front of my laptops. They were taken with everything else and are probably they reason he stashed the bag so close. They kind of weighed things down. The only thing missing from my purse was my gun. When arrested he had a partial pack of butts, (mine) an orange lighter, (mine) and a Gideon Bible, that I have no idea who it belonged to.  Rick and I found my phone and my ear buds hanging from a tree in the woods. The Police said that it would be a while before we got anything back. All the evidence, (our stuff) needed to be processed for fingerprints.

 A while? How long is a while? I started hearing horror stories about evidence being kept for well over a year. Things being 'lost" or "damaged" in police custody. When was the last time you went without a phone? One of the laptops is my church’s laptop, and I am the church treasurer and kind of need my QuickBooks to do my job. $400 plus rolled quarters…I pay my utilities online, but I am a Dave Ramsey fan, and use the cash envelope system. Suddenly I am down a paycheck and still need to get gas, groceries, etc… I mean, that was what my plan originally was for today…

I took solace in knowing that we had him, and if the cops continue to do everything right that they had been doing, he would be going away for a long time. Three felonies. 3, 7-15 year sentences. Resisting arrest, Plus as it turned out, he had a bench warrant in Concord and crap in Merrimack. Open and shut. Right?

His Arraignment was scheduled for the next day, Friday, August 28th, at 11 am. And I planned to be there.