OMAHA, NE (KETV/CNN) – Prosecutors recently released video of a man, who was sentenced to nine months of probation on drug charges, stashing cocaine in the ceiling at police headquarters.
The incident, which took place in October 2017, began when 25-year-old Thomas Hartman told detectives he was the victim of a crime.
According to Hartman, his brother had robbed him, but police asked him to come clean, telling him they had visual of his brother on the other side of town at the time of the alleged robbery.
Still, Hartman insisted the crime had happened as he said.
While Hartman was being charged with false reporting, his 17-year-old girlfriend was in another room, talking to detectives about sex trafficking. She told police she was doing sexual favors in exchange for money under Hartman’s direction.
The video shows Hartman knocking and banging on the wall, yelling for the 17-year-old. He tells her he thinks they’re going to take him to jail.
"Go get that money and bond me out, Jaylene,” he says.
Ninety minutes later, Hartman stacks a chair on the table, climbs on top and puts his hands in the ceiling.
Officers caught him in the act and thought he was trying to escape.
But Hartman wasn’t escaping. Instead, he was hiding the cocaine he had in his possession.
An officer can be seen on video searching the ceiling. A white ball falls out, but the officer doesn’t notice.
Later, a technician comes in to straighten up the room and discovers the drugs on the floor.
Prosecutors ended up charging Hartman with drug possession, for which he was sentenced to nine months’ probation.
Hartman is currently being held at a state diagnostic and evaluation center on drug and terroristic threat charges.
Copyright 2018 KETV, Douglas County Sheriff’s Office via CNN. All rights reserved.
