A man who authorities said unwittingly boasted about the quality of his marijuana to a police officer over an open telephone line remained in Cumberland County Prison on Tuesday under $25,000 bail.
The bizarre chain of events began when Randy Smeltz, 40, called the Middlesex Police Department on Oct. 2 and asked that an officer call him back about a stolen radio, authorites said.
When police returned the call, someone at Smeltz’s home at the Country manor Mobile Home Park picked up the phone but did not ansewer. The officer stayed on the line and took notes while listening to two men and a women talk about illegal drugs, police said.
After a few minutes, apparently still unaware that an officer was on the line, Smeltz picked up the phone and tried to make a call, authorities said. The officer said hello and engaged Smeltz in a conversation.
“Randy told officers to listen to this and inhaled deeply, stating this was good marijuana,” police said in a news release about the case.
Smeltz gave police his address, and two officers went to his residence, authorities said. There, police said Sarah Dawson, 37, who also lives at the trailer park, admitted there was marijuana inside.
Officers confiscated marijuana from Smeltz’s home as well as a dozen marijuana plants growing in a flower beds at his home and at his mother’s home, also in the park.
Smeltz is charged with possession of marijuana and growing marijuana.