State Representative From Pennsylvania Gets Busted for a Joint While Tailgating

Posted by Karri Gallaugher on November 17, 2010

Nov 172010

Paul Costa

Paul Costa

A marijuana charge from October is making headlines today. State Rep. Paul Costa from Pennsylvania is accused of smoking marijuana while tailgating last month outside of a Pittsburgh Steelers game. Police say that undercover officers caught Rep. Costa sharing a joint with another man in the parking lot of Heinz Field on October 3rd. They say the undercover officers were there looking for T-shirt and ticket vendors without permits.

The Democrat from Pittsburg is launching a weak defense. According to his lawyer, Rep. Costa denies the allegations because he “detests marijuana”. The State Representative and the other man involved both face a single misdemeanor charge of engaging in prohibited acts. According to the criminal complaint, police officers said they saw Costa with another man, “smoking and passing between them a hand-rolled white cigarette (and) could smell the overpowering scent of burning marijuana.” Also on the complaint, it say that Costa and the other man were approached by police and “dropped the marijuana cigarette onto the ground where they both stated without being asked, ‘You got us.’” Costa’s lawyer, Phil DiLucente said those words were never spoken. His theory is that Costa, like many other fans, was wearing a Steelers jersey and police just got the wrong guy, adding, “I think, very easily, he could be mistaken, and I think in this case, that the officers were mistaken.

DiLucente, says that Costa “did not have any marijuana on his person, nor was he smoking any.He said his client looks forward to fighting his citation in court, and called the allegations outrageous. Costa adamantly denies ever touching marijuana. Representative Costa is a Democrat who serves the 34th District and is a member of the House Committee on Liquor Control. He says he’s confident the case will be resolved at a Nov. 24 court hearing.

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