Pelham Roommate Arrested After Probation Visit

They say keep your friends close and your enemies closer. But if you're on probation, it's essential not only to heed that advice but to choose your roommates with the utmost care. That lesson was definitely learned in Pelham recently. 

Town of Pelham police department responding to a call for assistance discovered a Pelham resident in an awkward situation that resulted in an arrest and the confiscation of a collection of weapons and illegal drugs from a Fifth Ave apartment.

According to Pelham police reports, on Thursday, October 4, two probation officers making a home visit to a former convict noticed an weapon "in plain sight." The item- a pair of "knunchucks" or "chucka sticks"- is illegal in New York.

The probation officers left the apartment and called for assistance from Pelham police who responded with 2 detectives and 2 officers at the apartment. 

When the assembled authorities knocked on the apartment door, they were invited in by another man who lived there. 

Once inside, the police asked the second man about the fighting sticks the probation officers saw there earlier. Helpfully enough, the man told police that the sticks were his and that he also had 3 swords in the apartment.

While this cordial conversation was taking place, one of the probation officers noticed resin residue- a possible sign of marijuana use- on a surface in the apartment. When asked, the man very helpfully told the officers he did have marijuana. In fact, the man produced "approximately 0.8 ounces of marijuana in a bag with a pipe" from beneath his computer keyboard, according to the police report.

Naturally, the police asked the man if there was any other marijuana in the apartment. “I’m pointing at it, there’s more in there,” the man reportedly told police as he pointed to a closet.

Inside the closet, police found and confiscated " 8 marijuana plants heated by 5 lamps and fan [as well as] fertilizer [and] plant growth products." 

Both men, the helpful gentleman and his probate roommate, were taken to police headquarters. Once there, the unbelievably gallant Otis N. Harris, 41, of 135 Fifth Ave, gave police a statement saying the contraband weapons and drugs were his roommate had no knowledge of their presence in the apartment. The roommate was released and Harris released on $100 bail.

No word on whether either man is seeking a new roommate at this time.