In 2003, Janet Lee, a freshman at Bryn Mawr College, was traveling home to Los Angeles for the holidays when she was arrested at the Philadelphia International Airport for allegedly carrying substances stuffed in three condoms in her suitcase, which airport screeners found, and law enforcement officials say tested positively for cocaine and opiates (two drugs not commonly mixed together).
Lee would end up spending Christmas behind bars, three weeks to be exact. While incarcerated she was under a $500,000 bail and was told that she was facing 20 years in prison for drug charges.
The young lady has stated that the condoms were actually filed with flour and used to squeeze to deal with exam stress. Lee thought the toys were funny, so she packed them to show to friends at home – facts she reasoned both to TSA screeners and the police when she was detained at the airport.
Indeed, later in the investigation, laboratory testing revealed that the substance was flour.
Late December 2006, Lee filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Philadelphia police department for wrongful imprisonment, just under the statute of limitations of two years for filing false arrest suits. Lee sought damages for pain and suffering, monetary loss, and emotional trauma.
Lee’s Attorneys, David Oh and Jeremy Ibrahim, have made statements to the effect that either the tests were faulty, the police fixed the test results, or the police lied to Lee in order to obtain a false confession.
It was unclear why field test showed drugs. In any event, the Philadelphia police department stood to face a case of nationwide proportions for falsely arresting Lee.
On January 2, 2006, the City of Philadelphia has agreed to pay Lee an $180,000 settlement.