Justin Bieber’s house was not “littered” with drugs and drug paraphernalia, according to the Los Angeles Sheriff and the lead detective in the egging-led, felony vandalism and assault investigation that saw the police raid the pop superstar’s house last Tuesday.
In reports from E! News , speaking to the Sheriff, and the New York Daily News , who spoke to Lt. David Thompson, police have denied claims reported Monday by TMZ alleging police found drugs and assorted paraphernalia throughout Bieber’s $6.5 million home.
The gossip website alleged investigators found cookie jars filled with marijuana, between four to five empty codeine bottles, “Sizzurp” foam cups, a smoking room, bongs, special cigars for making blunts, and hookah pipes, when police swept through the 19-year-old’s home in a surprise, early morning raid on January 14.
Not so, says Lt. Thompson, who told The News he personally walked though every room in Bieber’s house.
“I didn’t see any of it,” the detective said of TMZ’s -rumored drug stash, adding , “The house was orderly. It didn’t look like a drug pad. I did[n’t] see any empty codeine bottles. I didn’t smell weed.”
The celebrity website claims raid detectives saw empty Fanta bottles allegedly discolored by codeine. Without drug analysis, they claim this is an indication the Fanta bottle were used to mix the narcotic drink “Sizzurp” – a codeine and promethazin based cough syrup that users mix with fizzy drinks and candy and is also referred to as “lean,” “purple drank,” and other names.
Of this and other drug claims, Thompson told The News ,
“Maybe there was codeine in the medicine cabinet, but the scope of the search warrant was such that we didn’t go through medicine cabinets or open cookie jars,” he said.
“Nobody had time to flush anything,” he added. “It was orderly. Nobody ran. Nobody took an excessive amount of time to contact us,”
This directly refutes TMZ’s claim alleging some of “[Bieber’s] friends went into the [smoking] room and some of the illicit stuff went down the toilet.”
It was originally reported police investigators immediately detained a party of seven people – which included Justin – found in his house on arrival.
Thompson was reportedly adamant he wasn’t “covering for the kid,” adding Justin “is a huge pain” for the Sheriff’s department.
But the detective insisted the point of the police raid was to retrieve surveillance evidence, not go on a fishing expedition.
“We’re not doing some big sting on Justin Bieber,” he previously told The News . “This was about the egging.”
Lt. Thompson reiterated that the only drugs found in Bieber’s house were illicit substances found in the bedroom of his pal, the rapper Xavier “Lil Za” Smith, 20. Tests are reportedly complete but the results are not yet in, The News notes.
Thompson previously said of the likely “Molly,” a powdered form of MDMA (Ecstasy), and Xanax found, that Lil Za allegedly said, “That’s mine” when police came across it.
Likewise, E! News reports the Sheriff – it’s not clear if the outlet is referring to Sheriff Leroy D. Baca or the department – revealed police did not see any codeine bottles, containers of weed, other drugs, or a designated smoking room.
The Sheriff added, Bieber’s house was ” well kept and clean” and “didn’t smell or have an unusual odor.”
In response, TMZ posted what’s alleged to be a cropped photograph of drug paraphernalia. which they allege was taken in The Smoke Room (apparently called the Bob Marley Room by Bieber and his pals) back in March 2013. It’s unlikely the teen star would have been there as he performed on his Believe tour throughout March.
The gossip outlet stands by every drug it alleged and quotes an unnamed law enforcement official who says police weren’t looking for eggs. The website stated in its original report that police couldn’t seize alleged drugs they saw as it would have “exceeded the scope of the search warrant.”
Additionally, The News writes a law enforcement source – who requested anonymity – told them officers saw at least one bong in plain view, but said their remit was finding egging-related evidence; not drugs.
Overall, statements from E! and The News don’t absolutely negate TMZ’s claims that drugs or drug paraphernalia could have allegedly been in Bieber’s house – or seen by police – as Thompson, The News’ and TMZ’s law enforcement sources all stressed egg-throwing related evidence was the raid’s priority, not alleged drugs.
By that same token, TMZ’s impression of Bieber’s home as a quasi-crack house which saw police moving through a sea of foam cups, general filth, spilling-over weed jars, and a dimly-lit smoking room, while people dashed to bathrooms to flush alleged drugs presents as wholly exaggerated and unsubstantiated .