Selling bogus street drugs not a crime

Friday, Feb. 25, 2000 | 11:42 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A person cannot be convicted of offering to sell controlled substances if the drugs are fake, the Nevada Supreme Court has ruled.

The court Thursday overturned the conviction of Christopher D. Paige, sentenced to a maximum 72 months in prison for offering to sell what was described as cocaine to a police undercover agent.

The law, the court said, requires the existence of a controlled substance if a person is to be convicted of drug sales.

Detective John Turney was working undercover on narcotics-related crimes near Stewart Avenue and 13th Street in Las Vegas when he talked to a man, telling him he wanted to buy two rocks of cocaine for $20. The man walked away to the front of a vacant building and talked to Paige.

Paige then approached the undercover officer and asked where his money was. Turney paid him the $20, and Paige turned over what appeared to be rocks of cocaine. When questioned if they were the real thing, Paige said, "Yes, good coke."

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