On Friday, police in Marin County, California, said they were still looking for the third participant in an home-invasion robbery on Halloween, in which a mother-daughter team allegedly robbed a marijuana dealer at gunpoint. According to the police report, the women gained entry to the home with the assistance of a third woman, a “fairy-costumed female” who the victim said asked to use his phone at about 2 a.m. When he let her in, another woman barged in behind her, wearing military fatigues and brandishing a handgun. After a struggle, during which that woman called in the assistance of a third from outside, the victim escaped. Police arrested two of the three alleged robbers the next day.
The fairy remains at large.
The victim, said to be awaiting trial himself on charges of marijuana cultivation and possession for sale, told police he knew the woman with the gun (the report describes her as the “gunwoman,” but I guess I’m not quite ready to go there yet) and so it did not take them long to find her. A Coast Guard spokeswoman (I’m fine with that one) said the gunwoman (I got over it) had been recently discharged from the service, but did not say why. Police arrested the gunwoman’s mother later that day. She turned out to be the third woman to enter the home, but it wasn’t clear how authorities identified her. Maybe the victim knew her, too; maybe the daughter gave her up; or maybe the daughter yelled for help from “Mom” during the struggle. This is one of several mysteries surrounding the incident.
You may be thinking that one of the mysteries is why anyone in Marin County, of all places, would be charged with a crime for marijuana cultivation and possession, but the answer is that for now this is still illegal under California law except for medical purposes.
If you like local police blotters, you might check out The Underbelly, the crime blog of the Marin Independent Journal. It’s written by Gary Klien, the reporter responsible for the fairy story above, and is routinely funny.