On December 6th, 2024, officers at UW-Whitewater responded to a dorm room after a resident assistant reported the smell of marijuana coming from inside. What began as a simple odor complaint quickly turned into something [music] much bigger as a voluntary search uncovered item after item the resident had never mentioned. >> Hi. Hi. I'm Officer Blowers with the UW-Whitewater Police Department. Do you mind if we come in and talk with you? >> Yeah, but what? Can I ask you >> I'll explain this in there just so we're not talking in the hallway. >> Okay. Yeah, that's fine. >> I'm just going to turn on the light here. Um so, we got a call from the RAs of an odor of marijuana coming from your room. >> Mhm. >> Standing in here I can smell it. It's pretty strong. >> Okay. >> So, be honest and we can work with you if you're honest with us. >> I don't smoke. I don't. >> Okay, you don't have anything in here? >> have anything in here. >> Does your roommate? >> Mhm. My roommate's not in here either. >> Gotcha. Do you have your driver's license on you? Do you have your driver's license on you? >> Yeah. >> Do either of you have any marijuana or anything on you? >> No. >> Nothing? >> No. >> It's pretty strong in here. That's why I'm asking. Is that okay? Thank you. What are you guys up to tonight? >> Nothing. We're watching a movie. >> Do you have your driver's license? You don't have one? Okay. Are you from Wisconsin? >> Yeah. >> Awesome. Um is there there's nothing at all in here? Okay. Um are you guys around anybody that smokes? >> going to say I do. >> Okay, you're >> around him. I wasn't >> Gotcha. Nothing on you at all? >> No. No, I can check. >> Um >> Sorry, I apologize. >> Sure. Do you mind if I just check your room and make sure that there is nothing in here so I can let the RAs know that there's >> Um yeah. >> nothing here. Okay. Are you Is that fine with you? >> know what you're going to What are you going to check? >> I'll just check your belongings. Um make sure that there's nothing in here. Just it clears you for the RAs. Um Um it it's possible that it's on your clothes if you're around people that do smoke. >> I don't know. It's probably >> It's pretty strong. >> Yeah, I don't know. It's probably on my clothes or something. >> Got you. Are you a student? >> No. >> No, got you. Um Are you a student? >> No. >> So just for like a a future reference, um even like the odor of marijuana we can get a call for. Um and we'll show up and do all this. So which side is yours? This side? Okay, all of this over here? Okay. >> Got you. Um any alcohol or anything like that? Anything that I might find? >> Uh last thing was >> No. >> It was [snorts] Y L I. >> I do have something in my bag. >> Okay. I appreciate the honesty. >> in there. >> Okay, got you. >> It's just most of them are empty. >> Sure. >> It's just Yeah. >> Sure. Just going to take it out of here. >> Okay. >> Um not 21. All right. Okay. I again I appreciate the honesty with that. >> my clothes while I was >> At first, Haley denied having any drugs or alcohol in the room, but once officers began searching with her consent, the investigation took its first unexpected turn when she admitted there was underage alcohol hidden inside a storage ottoman. >> So you don't know what those are? >> Mhm. I was not told. >> You just have them in your room? >> Mhm. >> Gave them to you? >> Come from home. >> Come from home? >> Yeah. I know it's not I'm not going to take anything from home actually. I don't >> where was it? >> It was in there. >> So you're storing this stuff that you don't know what it is with all of your alcohol? >> I just put it in there. I just I don't know. >> Okay. I'm going to have you flip over here. >> Okay. So, I'm going to ask you again. I want you to be completely honest with me. Okay. So, obviously, you see what I just found. So, be completely honest. Cuz you haven't been honest with me so far. I asked for any alcohol, asked for any And you have not been honest with me so far. I could issue a ticket just that alone. >> Yes, I know. >> So, be honest with me. What else am I going to find? >> That's it. >> This is it? >> there. There's nothing else. >> What do you use the fake ID for? >> I use it to go to a bar once. >> Okay. >> The search didn't stop with alcohol. After discovering a jar containing suspected mushrooms and later a fake driver's license and THC products, officers began questioning whether the earlier denials had been truthful from the start. >> So, I'm going to ask you again. What? With all honesty, I just do not believe this is your friend's. >> They were my friends. They gave them to me. >> Okay. They never told you what it was? >> No, I I think it's some type of mushroom. I don't know though. >> Okay. And so, why would What was the reasoning for giving it to you? >> They gave it to me and I said I would try them. I don't know. But, I >> so you did know what it was? >> They told me it was some kind of mushroom. >> Okay. >> I don't know if >> How long have you had them for? >> I've had them for months. I literally just brought them here because in case I don't know. >> Okay. >> I didn't >> I I appreciate the honesty. Um please continue with that. Um is this your stuff here as well? >> No, that's his bag. >> Okay. Do you mind if I look through that bag? >> Yeah, probably do. >> Okay. Um in the black box >> You can go through that. >> Yeah. >> You can stay seated. >> You can go through that. >> All right. So, obviously, you can't have this alcohol since you're underage. Um So, what we're going to do, we're going to grab the alcohol and I'll walk with you to the bathroom, okay? We're going to dump that out. >> Yes. These two? >> Yep, all of them. >> Okay. Can you just >> [snorts] >> I'll have you take them back to your room and throw them in your garbage. >> Get those. >> Just going to leave these all right here. All right, so I'm going to have you turn around, face away from me. You're under arrest for having that those mushrooms that is psilocybin. >> After voluntarily dumping out the alcohol, Haley was informed she was under arrest for the suspected psilocybin. By then, what had started as a housing complaint had evolved into a much more serious criminal investigation. >> My keys? >> can get back in here. They're probably going to Are they behind the door? >> Yeah, they're right behind the door on that Look to the wall on the >> Right for you. Up the cloud. Oh, I got you. >> calendar. >> Got it. >> Thank you. >> Nothing else that you want? >> No. >> Okay. Okay. All right. Um do you want to call anybody to get a ride or you just going to walk back to your dorm? Unfortunately, I can't with the car that I have, I can't give a ride. >> Yeah, that's fine. I can just walk. >> Okay. So, this first one is for the possession of that alcohol since you're under 21. Um as of court date of January 7th at 1:00 a.m., it's a non-mandatory court appearance as long as you take care of it before that date. There's instructions at the bottom how to do that. It is $263.50. Any questions with this one? >> Where's the date that it's due by or whatever? >> Uh the court date up here in the corner. Yep, and the court um if you wanted to go to that court date, it would be at the Jefferson County Courthouse, it's up in Jefferson. Um and all three of these will have the same court date. >> Okay. >> Um keep it simple. Um so same court date, non-mandatory court appearance January 7th at 11:00 a.m. That one is $389.50. This is for the possession of marijuana. Same thing, instructions down here on how to handle that. Any questions with this one? Um this one is for the fake ID ID card violations. This one's the most expensive at $515.50. Same court date, instructions at the bottom of how to handle that. Any questions with this one? Um and then this is just a court brochure, it explains the the court date a little bit further if you have any further questions, it it might be on here. Um otherwise, reach out to our court officer. This is our police department phone number or you can send them an email. Um you can set up a meeting with them before that court date if you have any questions or want to go over things as well. Um any questions about that? Okay. So here is your ID, your phone, and your keys. >> Thank you. >> Um Should be all I need from you. Um like I said, any questions, don't hesitate to ask. >> Okay. >> So walk you out to this door here again. >> The investigation ultimately resulted in Haley being found guilty of possession of marijuana, underage possession of alcohol, and ID card violations, leading to more than $1,100 in fines. Although officers initially arrested her over the suspected psilocybin mushrooms, those charges were never ultimately filed, making the fake ID, THC products, and underage alcohol the violations that carried the legal consequences in this case.