Meet Toby, the famous drug-sniffing dog with his own Instagram account
Everyone’s ears perked up when the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office’s K-9 announced it was “Marijuana Monday!!!!”
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Toby is a yellow lab and partner to Deputy Roman Fontana. And he was pivotal in a recent drug bust by the sheriff’s office.
You see, it’s not that kind of marijuana Monday.
“I thought I smelled something!! Even with extra packaging and pepper, I still alerted on a trailer containing all this!” reads an Instagram post on Toby’s account.
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And boy did he sniff out the goods!
Thanks to Toby, the sheriff’s office confiscated:
“A lot of marijuana (mostly processed buds but also edibles, hash oil, and vape pen cartridges) headed across the United States for distribution on the East Coast.”
But Toby doesn’t have a problem with legal marijuana, of course. He’s just following the law and trying to protect legitimate businesses:
“Still illegal to smuggle large quantities out of state; this hurts the people who are trying to conduct marijuana business legally. Special thanks to all my partners who helped out with this investigation,” the post concluded.
And when Toby says “a lot” was found, he really meant it. The police took in 301 pounds of marijuana, 5,945 THC vape cartridges, an unspecified amount of marijuana edibles and concentrated cannabis, and $4,000 in cash.
It all started with a traffic stop for a minor driving violation. But Toby smelled a bigger problem inside the vehicle’s rental trailer.
“It’s believed these items were being transported out of state. The items were confiscated and the driver was cited and released,” the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office wrote in a Facebook post.
Of course, people were pretty peeved with law enforcement for “busting” what looked like a shipment bound for a legal dispensary (they deal in cash because most banks and credit card companies don’t want to get involved in something that’s still illegal on the federal level).
“yeah I don’t see how they can confiscate product like that, what laws was he breaking? Dispensaries have to get their products somehow, obviously via vehicles. Maybe you need a permit to transport it or something, I dunno. but as nicely as that was all packaged, it’s not like he is a street dealer,” remarked one commenter.
The cops replied: “There are still marijuana laws and regulations that need to be followed. Thank you for commenting.”
Others were curious about why the driver was cited and released instead of taken into custody. A fair question.
The response:
“As a law enforcement agency we enforce laws, we do not make them or change them. Right now, there are still marijuana laws and regulations and we are enforcing them within the scope of the law.”
Well, that doesn’t actually answer the question, but we’ll have to see if the driver has a license for that haul and can prove it wasn’t going across state lines.
Anyway, none of this is up to Toby, he’s just doing his job.
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In fact, while law enforcement got an earful for bragging about something so inconsequential while worse drugs and offenders were still on the streets, Toby’s reputation remained that of a good boy. He’s good PR!
And this wasn’t his first rodeo. He sniffed out a big haul back in May as well:
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And while we don’t know the yellow lab’s feelings on legal marijuana, we do know that he’s happy with a job well done.
Doesn’t he look pleased with himself?
If you want to follow Toby’s adventures at work and at home, you can find his Instagram page at @toby_drug_k9.
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Source: The Growth Op, @toby_drug_k9 via Instagram, El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office