Noelle: more than hypocrisy

Much has been written and said about Jeb Bush's hypocritical drug stance -- pushing tough mandatory sentences for drug offenses while his crack-addicted daughter gets a free pass.

Well, there's more than hypocrisy at play, and the Orlando Police and Orange County State Attorney's Office are conducting a serious investigation. The question? Why is the drug treatment center where Noelle is staying trying to cover up her rampant drug use?

This whole mess started when police received the following call:

One of the women here was caught buying crack cocaine tonight. And a lot of the women are upset because she's been caught about five times.

[...]

She does this all the time and she gets out of it because she's the governor's daughter. But we're sick of it here 'cause we have to do what's right, but she gets treated like some kind of princess.

An employee at the center had written a statement describing the incident, including the finding of crack on Noelle. However, a supervisor ordered the employee to tear up the report and stop cooperating with investigators. The police were perplexed:

We've never had a sworn statement ripped up by a witness in front of an officer.

What's more, center employees have given contradictory information to police on how such matters are handled. Some said they normally turned such cases over to the police, while others said they handled them in-house.

Given the sudden lack of cooperation by the center's staff, the state attorney's office has issued subpoenas to compel the employees to testify.

Posted September 16, 2002 08:12 AM | Comments (1)