After Derrell Johnson-Koulianos was arrested on a litany of drug charges last month, one of the charges that stood out the most was the "keeping a drug house" charge. One, because it was the only charge DJK faced that wasn't simple possession, and two, because holy crap does that look bad. I heard he was running a drug house! That sounds like crackhouse! Was Iowa's top wide receiver on crack? How many Hawkeyes are on crack? Did he give out coupons for crack? To children? Boy, he's probably going to jail for a long time if there's a drug house!
Except, anybody who did an ounce of research on this charge knows how absolutely full of crap it is. It's an aggravated misdemeanor, and it basically means that the resident failed to notify authorities about the use of drugs in the house. Which, yeah. It's a tack-on charge, always, and one that prosecutors use as incentive to snitch ("we can make this drug house charge go away if you tell us who you were buying from," etc.) instead of something that actually prevents illegal behavior. This isn't the only sketchy drug law in Iowa, either; those who are arrested for selling drugs can expect a "tax stamp" charge, which is a Class D felony(!) for not applying for tax stamps with the state on all narcotics to be sold. Again: bullshit tack-on law that solves no problems.
So, in regards to DJK's charge, surprise! The county's not going to pursue it:
According to criminal complaints and trial information, Johnson-Koulianos was in possession of cocaine, marijuana and two prescription drugs without a valid prescription. Police said Johnson-Koulianos admitted to taking the drugs and submitted to a drug test, which showed positive results for the drugs. Johnson-Koulianos has been charged with possession of cocaine, possession of marijuana, possession of diazepam, possession of dilaudid and unlawful possession of a prescription drug. A previous charge, keeping a drug house, was not filed by Assistant Johnson County Attorney Meredith Rich-Chappell.
Of course, there's still that mountain of other possession charges that DJK's going to have to face, and those aren't going away; it would be some sort of sick joke if he pled not guilty to any of them, considering what information he freely volunteered upon being arrested. We'll see how much punishment Johnson County pushes for, though; while the county isn't "drug-friendly" by any stretch, remember that County Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek has advocated for laxer penalties on first-offense marijuana possession, and this is DJK's first arrest. Granted, the cocaine and prescriptions don't help the situation, and I am certainly not a lawyer, but it's possible DJK just gets probation and drug education out of this. We'll see.