Bail reduced for drug suspect

Bail was reduced to $1,500 cash for an 18-year-old Johnson Lane resident accused of selling seven "hits" of the hallucinogenic drug LSD in an undercover sting.

Taylor Clarke was charged with sales of a controlled substance for the $70 transaction Dec. 5 at the Johnson Lane General Store.

He was arrested Feb. 1 after an investigation by the Tri-Net Narcotics Task Force.

Clarke's lawyer, Derrick Lopez, said his client had no juvenile record, was a 2008 graduate of Douglas High School and earned a Millennium Scholarship.

"We believe he is no danger. He will be living with his parents. The court certainly has his attention," Lopez said.

Clarke has a prior arrest at South Lake Tahoe on a marijuana charge.

"Anybody that sells marijuana in this community and marijuana at South Lake Tahoe, that doesn't seem a good use of Millennium Scholarship," said prosecutor Tom Gregory, arguing against a reduction in bail.

"How the hell did you decide to break into the criminal justice system like this?" asked East Fork Justice Jim EnEarl.

He agreed to lower Clarke's $10,000 bail to $1,500 cash and placed him on house arrest.

"Consider your bedroom jail," EnEarl said. "You don't set foot out of the house without asking permission of the Department of Alternative Sentencing."

Clarke promised to follow the terms of his release.

"Son, you face some serious issues. Don't compound them," EnEarl said.