[bajatraveler]

It was something like 20 or 30 grams of cocaine. More than for personal use but certainly not a big-time drug trafficker. He was probably going to sell it to some of his friends and keep a bit for himself while pocketing some cash in the process. The fact is, the cops who arrested him figured that out too and offered him a deal where they’d cut him loose for 800 dollars which he didn’t have – he spent it all on the coke. They even let him call his dad so he could come down with the cash but his dad refused, thinking that it would only get his son in more trouble along with himself in the process.

The prosecuting attorney also offered a deal through the kids attorney to make it all go away for 5,000 dollars – to be split between him and the cops and before being official arraigned, which the dad also turned down for the same reason.

So the wheels of Tijuana’s legal system began to turn, formal charges were filed and a court date was set. A few days before the court date the attorney for the kid was finally able to convince the dad that his son was going to be treated as a drug trafficker and be sentenced to prison for several years – there was no court in Tijuana for first time offenders where he’d get off with a slap of the hands, pay a small fine and do little to no time as often happens here in the states in similar situations.

The problem was now they also needed to pay people off in the court system and in total it cost him over 20 grand to get his son released. In retrospect he should have cut a deal with the arresting cops.