Sacramento Area Local News

PLACER COUNTY, Calif. (CBS 13) ― A photo posted on MySpace.com showing a Placer County high school student smoking marijuana has led to his arrest on numerous felony charges including intention to make destructive devices.

Placer County Sheriff's deputies arrested 18-year-old Del Oro High student Daniel Blanchard on Friday May 5th. The investigation into Blanchard started after the Placer County Deputy Sheriff Ryan Berry saw a picture of Blanchard smoking a "bong" on MySpace.com.

Berry is the School Resource Officer assigned to Del Oro High. The Placer County Sheriff's department says when Berry question Blanchard about the photo, Blanchard admitted to smoking pot.

Berry then searched Blanchard's backpack and found marijuana, hashish and a marijuana pipe. A search of Blanchard's car revealed more hashish and marijuana, compact digital scales, packaging materials, bongs, 4 knives, over a dozen hypodermic syringes, gun powder and potassium nitrate. When deputies searched Blanchard's bedroom they say they found more chemicals used in bomb making and several printed materials on making bombs, including the Anarchist's Cookbook.

Blanchard was arrest on four felony and one misdemeanor charge and booked at the Placer County Jail. Blanchard's $150,000 bail was posted and he was released on May 6.

Blanchard's arraignment is scheduled for May 24th.

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Story Comments

"This story pretty much validates my theory that the law exists for two basic reasons: first, that most people aren't intelligent enough to develop their own rules and guide their lives by their terms, so they need something to do it for them, namely a concept we know as "rules," and secondly, that people who break the rules so blatantly deserve to be punished severely. Otherwise, what's to stop the hoi paloi from breaking the law left and right? Those of us who are intelligent enough to see that the rules are effectively a "wink wink nudge nudge" to the smart and careful people should feel free to disregard them as we see fit, as long as we're careful, and we don't hurt anyone by breaking them. But to each his own, I guess." - Nathan Jacobsen

"Nice to see our tax dollars being wasted on crap like this!" - Anonymous

"Arrested for photos on MySpace? Seriously? First off, why was this cop trolling MySpace in the first place? Second, a picture of him with a bong? I've not seen the pic, but short of actually seeing the green in the bowl how could he confirm it was actually pot? Few people smoke tobacco out of bongs, but in many states, that's what they're sold for. Of all the things a police force could be doing, stopping murders, crime, an drug cartels, they decide to troll through MySpace to catch teens smoking a bit of pot? No wonder the drug war is failing. If pot is so evil, why are they not putting their resources into stopping the supply? Prosecuting tokers, the most benign of all recreational chemical users, just creates more animosity for police officers. This police department really needs to get its priorities straight." - Jason McLeod

"I absolutely agree. Jail is what is needed to straighten this kid out. Letting him out into the custody of his parents for therapy and coddling will only send the message that this type of behavior is "ok." Correctional facilities have historically shown to be very conducive in the correction of bad behavior, and the remolding of bad character into straight and true, and that's exactly what this kid needs." - Ron Millen

"Putting him in prison will only make it worse. Getting raped in prison is not valid punishment for smoking pot. Possession of bomb making material (which could have been gasoline) and a book is not a crime. Blame his parents who obviously didn't pay enough attention to what their child was doing." - Anonymous

"Give me a break. A lot of kids play around with gunpowder and other "recipes" from the Anarchist's Cookbook. Just because he had the items doesn't mean he was out to hurt anyone. As for the drugs.....well those should be legal anyway." - Arturo Bandini

"My university roommate (only a year older than this kid) had a pipe bomb in our room at all times. At THE top engineering school in Canada. I now earn a very good wage, and he does too. We're both highly educated, well earning people that contribute to our nations economy and tax base willingly, and without compromise. Why are police and parents incarcerating people who have not committed dangerous crimes? A nation such as the USA simply cannot afford the high levels of incarceration; even in 'socialist states' such as Canada, we realize that the government's job is more to protect private property. I find it amazing you can be arrested for possession of a bomb-making material, and yet gun ownership rights are fiercely defended. It seems ludicrous to me." - Garret Thomson

"So, a high school senior gets caught with pot. He's probably selling it. Go to any high school in North America and you'll find the same thing. The kid had some smoke bomb making material? so what? Do you have any real news to report? How about the one about the president sending our kids to kill other kids in Iraq? You think that's worth reporting?" - Tony

"this kids bail should have been higher. if he has weapons at school, he could have planned on using them to injure/kill students. he should not be back allowed at Del Oro or any public school. if it were my way, that kid would be put to jail and not let out until he is at least 21. Obviously this kid has serious problems and needs help. jail would break him in and hopefully make him realize he is psycho. i am a student at del oro and would not like this kid to see the light of day for a long time. " - Del Oro High School student

"This has the feel of a rush to judgment. It could be a classic example of how the media destroys reputations over fairly benign incidents. Even if he turns out to be just a typical teenage curiosity seeker, he must now face a lifetime of having his name tainted in Web archives. Internet keyword searches make it far too easy to dredge up dirt on people. Some deserve it and others don't, but stories like this don't give them much of a chance. Granted, it's dumb to post a photo of yourself using drugs, but it's too late to retract the damage if he turns out to be a non-threat. From the looks of things so far, he's a foolish kid who was trying to push the envelope a bit. How many of us haven't done that at some time? Is getting caught the only real crime? The media needs to think twice before broadcasting people's names without the full context of a story. I'm thinking the press angle is more about the pitfalls of MySpace.com than any grievous wrongdoing by the kid. The Press has a cruel tendency to make scapegoats out of naive individuals with no concern for the future impact." - G.R.

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