Montana Teen Sends Text Meant for Drug Dealer to Sheriff by Mistake

(NewsCore) - A teen from Helena, Mont., looking to buy marijuana accidentally sent a text message meant for a drug dealer to a sheriff, the Helena Independent Record reported Friday.

"Hey Dawg, do you have a $20 I can buy right now?" the message read.

Lewis and Clark County Sheriff Leo Dutton received the text last week and told the paper he initially thought it was a prank.

But when he played along, replying "How much we talking?" he soon discovered the message was sincere, if terribly unlucky.

Dutton, along with the Missouri River Drug Task Force, arranged for an undercover detective posing as the dealer to meet the teen at local business in downtown Helena last Wednesday night, according to the Independent Record.

When the detective spotted the teen with another adolescent male at their agreed meeting place, he called the boys over and showed them his badge.

Dutton told the paper the teens turned white and their knees began to wobble -- one of them even passed out when the group went outside to talk about the boys' failed attempt to buy drugs.

One of the teens' fathers had been with the boys at the meeting place. He was reportedly very upset with his son, but eager to cooperate, and no citations were issued.

"When the detective saw there were parents that wanted to be involved he took the right action and I’m really proud of the deputy," Dutton told the Independent Record.

"Trying to buy drugs is a crime, but it’s probably worse that they had to face their parents."