2 Chainz is off the hook in his marijuana case. The rapper has been acquitted of all charges stemming from his traffic stop in Maryland back in February — you know, the one where the starstruck officers who arrested him later posed in this awkward photo with him.
2 Chainz (born: Tauheed Epps) and his entourage were on their way to a concert at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore campus when they van they were riding in was pulled over in Maryland after police clocked them for going over the speed limit.
According to Maryland’s Star Democrat, the officers smelled burning marijuana coming from the vehicle and searched it under probable cause. The search reportedly turned up a metal grinder they found inside a bag, which Epps claimed responsibility for, though he said the grinder was NOT his.
Still, Epps was arrested on marijuana possession and paraphernalia charges.
The Star Dem reported:
When police began to arrest Epps, charging him with possession of marijuana and possession of paraphernalia, Epps asked the rest of the people he was traveling in the van with who owned the grinder, according to court witnesses.
At that time, Harold Folsome Jr., a security guard contracted out of Ohio, approached police and took responsibility for the grinder being in the bag. Folsome said during trial that before being stopped on Route 50, the group was at a hotel in Baltimore getting ready to leave for the show.
Folsome, who is partly responsible for packing and transporting Epps’ bags, said he and three other people, including Epps, were in the hotel suite getting ready to leave for the show when he grabbed various items from around the room and put them into the camouflage bag and then subsequently in the van.
Folsome denied owning the grinder, and said he did not know who did, and he also said he was not paying attention to what he was putting in the bag, as he was in a rush to leave for the show. “Whoever left it in the room, I guess that’s who it belonged to,” Folsome said.
Folsome said he told police the grinder was his because he was the one who put it in the bag and should be responsible for it, saying, “When I saw what it was, I knew what I did.”
Epps’ defense attorney argued that there was no evidence to prove the gray bay belonged to Epps.
Judge Adkins said that the grinder “clearly” was in Epps’ bag, but because of the discrepancies over who it belonged to, he wasn’t going to hold Epps responsible for owning it. “It belonged to somebody in that room. As for who, I don’t know,” Adkins said.
It’s worth noting that the Maryland State Police officers who arrested and booked 2 Chainz on the initial charges took the time to pose for a photo with him. It was never made clear whose idea it was to take the photo (we’ll tell you: it was the cops’), but the rapper complained about the incident on Twitter right after, writing: “dam police fuckn wit a nigga … Locked me up and then Wanted pictures smh.”
