Published: July 12, 2008 12:18 am      

Soboroff in County Jail

Judge rules him guilty of possession

CLINTON — Jeffrey A. Soboroff, 57, of Calamus, Soboroff had been found guilty of possession of drug paraphernalia.

After a bench trial held June 17, Clinton County Magistrate Bert Watson issued a written decision on Tuesday that Soboroff was in constructive possession of a glass pipe found in his basement and that the pipe constitutes as drug paraphernalia.

The case stems from when Soboroff was arrested at his residence, 193 Second St. in Calamus, in November by Clinton County sheriff’s deputies after he had made a posting to his Web site that he had procured 500 pounds of thorizine and was going to dump the drug into the city water tower to “calm the population down.” His trial on that charge took place March 10 and 11 in Clinton County District Court. The jury returned with a guilty verdict on March 11. On April 3, Soboroff was placed on five years probation.

During the bench trial regarding the possession charge, Clinton County Attorney Mike Wolf said law enforcement officials executed a search warrant at Soboroff’s residence on Nov. 14 in relation to an allegation of Soboroff making threats online against the Calamus city water supply and located a glass pipe in his basement.

Wolf said Soboroff was knowingly in possession of the item, as attested through Soboroff’s own admission, and based on the residue detected in the pipe, it was determined the item had been used in the consumption of drugs.

Clinton County Sheriff’s Deputy Jessup Schroeder testified he assisted in conducting the search of Soboroff’s residence and located the glass pipe in an eastern room of the basement. Schroeder said the pipe had a burnt, dark residue inside and gave off the odor of marijuana and noted the pipe was found with an empty prescription drug bottle with Soboroff’s name on the label.

In his cross examination, Soboroff’s Attorney Bill Vilmont proposed it was reasonable to believe Soboroff’s ex-wife, Wanda Butler had brought contraband into the residence.

Sgt. Steve Cundiff testified that Soboroff advised law enforcement officials he purchased the item at a local convenience store in Calamus. Cundiff said Soboroff contended that at some point, he had construction workers in his home and believed the workers to have smoked marijuana with the pipe.

Soboroff testified in his defense, saying he purchased the glass item as a ballpoint pen at a gas station in Grand Mound and stated he did not use the item for illicit purposes. Under cross-examination by Wolf, Soboroff admitted the item was found in his residence but contended that construction workers had brought drugs into his residence and used the glass pen container as a pipe to ingest the drugs. Soboroff told the court he called sheriff’s department twice, asking officials to perform a search of his home and look for any illicit materials, but deputies refused to come.

In his ruling, Watson stated that Soboroff’s own incriminating statements were an important factor in the case.

“He claimed he asked the officers to search his residence but Mr. Soboroff could have searched his residence himself. The drug paraphernalia was in plain view and was easily discovered by the officers,” the ruling states. “Mr. Soboroff stated that he had bough the glass pipe from a convenience store when it was in the form of a pen and someone else had converted into drug paraphernalia. The Court finds that it is unlikely that someone would have taken the pen that Mr. Soboroff purchased and converted it into drug paraphernalia.”

Soboroff will be sentenced on July 31 at 1:15 p.m.