Bristol Palin's Future Mother-In-Law's Drug Arrest: Trooper Says Election Delayed Case

WASILLA, Alaska -- The mother of Bristol Palin's boyfriend sent text messages discussing drug transactions less than a month after the young woman's mother, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, was nominated as the Republican vice presidential candidate, according to court documents filed this week.

An affidavit from an Alaska state trooper, filed Monday, states that Sherry L. Johnston referred in her messages to two police informants to "coffee" as a code for the drug OxyContin.

Johnston, 42, was arrested on felony drug charges last week after state troopers served a search warrant at her Wasilla home. She allegedly sold OxyContin tablets to the informants on three occasions this fall, the affidavit states. Police said two of the meetings were recorded by a hidden camera and a microphone.

Johnston is the mother of Levi Johnston, 18. Sarah Palin announced in September that her daughter Bristol, also 18, was pregnant and that Johnston was the father. Their child was due to be born Dec. 18, her grandfather Chuck Heath told the Anchorage Daily News recently.

Authorities say the case against Sherry Johnston began in the second week of September, when drug investigators intercepted a package containing 179 OxyContin pills. That led to the arrest of the suspects, who agreed to be informants.

According to the affidavit, Johnston sent a text message to one informant Oct. 1, writing: "Hey, my phones are tapped and reporters and god knows who else is always following me and the family so no privacy. I will let u no when I can go for cof."

The trooper's affidavit indicates that Sarah Palin's candidacy factored into the investigation, with state officials delaying execution of a search warrant until this month, when Johnston was "no longer under the protection or surveillance of the Secret Service."

Comments

[layman]

Once again Politics prevail over the judicial system. Injustice in the judicial system is more damaging to society than crime itself !!!!!!

[MarsAmbassador]

So...does this mean that Palin has been pallin' around with drug-dealers?

[MorningJoeMikaIsMarried]

Yes

[PoliticalAmazon]

I'm more concerned with the implications of the Secret Service providing security and cover, facilitating the Wasilla drug cartel.

Palin can, and will, say she had no idea it was going on. However, I don't think many people will believe that the Secret Service providing security to Johnston didn't know what was going on, and allowed it to continue.

[DesertKayaker]

I agree.

You'd think that anyone who's going to run for the White House would first have to pass a security clearance BEFORE starting a campaign!!! "Regular folks" do when they have to get top secret clearance for different jobs in the U.S. government or as subcontractors.

This whole things puts the Secret Service in a very bad position.

[Mattie]

who knows, I've met my son in laws parents four times, and that's counting the wedding, the reception and the shower. I don't think you have to chum around with the parents of the person your child is marrying. Sometimes people here say things that are just as nasty and hate filled as the people they call nasty and hate filled on the right. I want to be better than that, and I want my party to be better than that, so instead of hating her, I just didn't vote for her, and than I let it go.

[rich misty]

Looks like doesn't it? And not just palin around... We are talking family

[Marie62866]

Its Bristol's baby daddy!

[MichelleDenise64]

I was thinking the same thing when the story broke. I wonder how they will spin this one.

[garymc8]

I for one want s.palin to discover over saturation somewhere around 9-9-09 so she is such an after thought by 2012 "Sarah who?"

[itisover]

very sad. country is ruined.

[VOTER]

Alaska is ruined but Alaskan voters may correct their problem.
Let's hope so.

[smag]

They never learned with ted.

[DesertKayaker]

Between Palin and Stevens, Alaska's going to have to work on rebuilding its image.

[bby328]

Sell it . . . Sell it back .

[trisha08]

Is that normal to delay an arrest because another party is running for public office? I want to know more about that practice. Legal? What's the scoop there?

[JumpDownTurnAround]

My guess would be MORE ABUSE OF POWER IN THE GOVERNOR'S OFFICE!

[IndyGirl19]

From the article published in the Anchorage Daily News (link below)

"The affidavit refers to Johnston being under Secret Service protection while dealing drugs, but that appears to be incorrect.

Special Agent Darrin Blackford, spokesman for the Secret Service in Washington, D.C., said that only the governor and her immediate family were protected. Johnston was not under the agency's protection or surveillance, he said.

Troopers later agreed that part of the affidavit was wrong.

"Whenever she was in contact with Palin, that was probably the only time it came into play," said trooper spokeswoman Beth Ipsen."

http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/crime/story/633751.htm

[PoliticalAmazon]

Whether there were SS agents standing around Johnston at all times or not, they surely knew what she was doing.

The SS specializes in risk assessment and security. Part of the risk assessment would be finding out all the risks associated with Sarah Palin from her family and colleagues.

If they didn't know that Johnston was a drug user and pusher, then they weren't doing their job, and I find that very hard to believe.

[mitsie]

Thank you for finding out the info about the secret service, I was really fuming about that.

[KarenT]

For those that question any association between Palin and Johnston:

"Whenever she was in contact with Palin, that was probably the only time it came into play".

[SPQR1052]

Who delayed the investigation? That person or persons head ought to roll.

[VOTER]

This should be the next question the MSM ask John McCain.

[Archivist1000]

Cover up, of course. The McCain campaign muzzled many things .. this is one of them! There is more to this story than meets the eye!

[pupbayer]

Where did you get that? From what I've read it was a decision made within the state highway patrol. But go ahead and make stuff up...many on here will believe it! LOL!!!

[JePenseDoncJeSuis]

Put the shoe on the other foot and you'd be pushing the whole investigation as a conspiracy to undermine your candidate.

[KarenT]

Wasilla is the "Real America":

http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=188638&title=Understanding-Real-America-in-Wasilla

[trisha08]

That's an awesome video. I love the other one he did with some local patrons in the bar hoping that McPalin would win the election, and then they said they then hoped McCain died in office so their girl would be president. No joke. It was shocking......real american people.

[KarenT]

I saw that one when it came out...very funny. I didn't see this one until a couple of days ago. Says a lot about how much "executive experience" the Mayor of Wasilla has right? Wow.

[isthatso]

Real American people...it is scary to think how many of these "real" people are out there

[Phoebe917]

meth capital of alaska !!!!! go wasilla!

[FatherWolf]

still a classic

[NoNotAgain]

Is this video real ? This woman thinks that she could be the Vice President
of the USA. Monday they have a staff meeting---­---Thursda­y she signs the
payroll. There you go again Joe say it ain't so. Palin is among her peers in Wasilla !!!

[OneAngryDwarf]

More small town values on display. I grew up in a small town and let me tell you obfuscation is the name of the game. I guess this is why Mrs. Mooseburger could be a big fish in the small Alaskan pond, she knew how to cover things up. Now that the bright national spotlight is shining on her the skeletons are falling out of the closet faster than she can put them back in.

Just one more reason to avoid "Real America."

[bygollymissmolly]

when Johnston was "no longer under the protection or surveillance of the Secret Service.
----------­----------­-----

So, why did Johnston warrant Secret Service protection? Could it be that Sarah Barracuda knew about Johnston's dealing and wanted to shut her down while the election was coming up? Could it be she knew about Johnston's dealing because of her son Track's two year addiction to O x y c o n t i n?

[KarenT]

Bingo!

[backroads]

Double Bingo!

[VOTER]

John McCain knows the answer.

[trisha08]

No doubt. Don't you wonder why McCain wouldn't come out and say he would back her in 2012? He knows her better than anyone and he is backing away from her. I think he found out the truth really fast. I think there is a lot more that he "knows".

[jsgaetano]

It's pretty amazing how many investigations get delayed because of Palin's VP run. Anything else in the pipeline? Any busts on her AIP secessionist pals get put on hold?

Personally, I could care less if her son's in-laws are dealing hillbilly heroin. I'm more concerned with her questionable loyalties to America. Her political allies want to take their socialist welfare state out of America, which really calls into question the integrity of any contribution they could make to this country.

[ishok]

I don't have as much a problem with Sarah Palin as some one this site.

I have more of a problem with the so-called Christian right-wing conservatives. They have clearly compromised the values that they claim to be so important in order to support this assortment of misfits, mopes and underachievers.

[garymc8]

Christian right-wing conservati­ve=HYPOCHR­ISTIAN

[Dwight5]

So, you don't have a problem with Palin, but you do have a problem with so-called Christian right-wing conservatives? Wake up, Ishok. Sarah Palin IS a Christian right wing conservative.

[wadda]

Me too. I don't have a problem with Sarah Palin. I just can't stand people who are just like her.

[postman606]

You just described Palin in the second sentence.

[lordmi]

I have NO respect of Palin for Political reason - she is stupid and has awful views.
But this case has NOTHING to do with Palin and we should stop putting her name in this context.

[rich misty]

Who she is palin around with is a valid concern

[sherbug]

The gospel according to Palin and the rest of the Republicans is guilt by association. The relationship between Palin and Johnston is more than an association. They have a grandchild in common and that makes them family. Therefore a member of Palin's family has been arrested on drug charges.

[Ydnic]

If secret service was protecting Johnston, wouldn't local law enforcement have told them about the investigation. McCain's campaign would be informed. Did McCain's campaign interferethe same way they did with the trooper-gate investigation?

If they had knowledge of the investigation subpoena to be served during the campaign, what were the discussions about a delay w/the subpoenas and who made the decision and why?

If McCain's campaign had anything to do with the delay, is this a breach of the public's (voters) trust?

What is Palin's personal relationship with Ma Johnston? How long have they known each other? Did Palin object to Bristol seeing Levi? What were the dynamics between these families.

Since Bristol was heavily involved with Levi, and Palin was privvy to inside information as governor, wouldn't she know about the investigation and perhaps notified that Johnston was suspected of drug dealing. When did Palin know that Johnson was dealing?

If the story that Trac enlisted because of his own problems drug issues, did Palin's discover it was Johnston dealing to Trac that lead her to narc on Johnston? Is Palin responsible for the investigation?

If Palin is responsible for the investigation, did she or Todd handle it the same way they did with troopergate? Did they force the investigation? If Wasilla is the meth capitol, why would law enforcement be investigating a small timer peddler of prescription drugs if not under pressure by Palin to do so?

[FatherWolf]

Yes it does -- because of her campaign message and her continuing status as the symbol of small-town anti-elitist Republicanism. If they love her because she's a hockey mom, understands their problems, etc. etc. etc. then the whole package -- unwed teen pregnancy, drug dealing boyfriend mom, no college, not even finishing high school -- is relevant.

What we city folk are seeing is that small-town America, as seen through the Palin soap opera, is mighty dysfunctional.

Now it's up to small-town America to prove that they're mostly better than the Palin clan.

[dc2nm]

I think that is the question about the legal delay until after the election...a cover-up is our concern since she is obviously planning on keeping her political career.

[Dana D]

For someone who loves being in the spotlight, there's not been a word from Palin about the birth of Bristol's baby. Why? I'd think she'd have her 7 yr old daughter dragging that baby around by now with pics galore.

[kareemachan]

and in her 4" stilettos...

[Dana D]

LOL! I almost added that line.

[rich misty]

The GOP has bought the pharm this time