The Sad Story of McGruff the Crime Dog

John Morales, the actor who played McGruff the Crime Dog (you know: “Take a bite out of crime!”), was recently sentenced to sixteen years in prison three years after police seized a thousand marijuana plants and twenty-seven weapons (including a grenade launcher) from his house. Apparently he thought “Crime Dog” meant that he was supposed to be committing crimes. Or maybe he took a bite out of crime and just really liked the taste of it. I don’t know.

The way this situation unraveled gives me pause. Police stopped Morales for speeding. They apparently then found designs in his car for his pot plant operation. They then raided his house after finding the designs, and found the plants and weapons.

This was in Texas. According to the Second Amendment, his possession of all those weapons doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter if it looks suspicious even. He can own whatever arms he wants. As far as the marijuana plants are concerned, he would have been innocent of any crime if he had just moved to Colorado and registered with the state.

So, in the case of both the marijuana and the guns, ironically, McGruff the Crime Dog (the actor) is suffering from the police state that McGruff the Crime Dog (the character) helped to create. That’s sad.

Why is Morales going to jail? He didn’t hurt anyone. He is going to jail for sixteen years for non-violent crimes. That’s also sad.

It’s time for the United States to seriously rethink our penal system. We have the highest incarceration rate in the entire world. We put more of our citizens in jail per capita than North Korea. We’re worse than China and Iran. Does that compute? It should be disturbing to us that we throw so many non-violent offenders in jail. Let the sad, ironic cautionary tale of McGruff the Crime Dog be a lesson to us.

17 responses

  1. The establishment has to keep up this phony war on people like Morales to divert attention from the real criminals – the establishment itself.

  2. Uh, for the record, Ken Lay, Jeffrey Skilling, and Bernie Madoff were non-violent offenders as well. There is a reason they went to jail ( or in Lay’s case was going to be going to jail before he died)…..because they broke the law!

    • From everything I read about Ken Lay, what he did was legal when he did it. Then they changed the law. The same thing Michael Milken. Those two just p I s s e d off the wrong people. Now I will most certainly spot you the Bernster as he did live up to his name and “made off” will a bucket load of cash.
      But Ken just gamed a system designed by incompetent rubes thinking they knew how to reinvent the utilities industry.

  3. I don’t know how they get away with perverting the 2nd Amendment in the first place. There is not a star next to it saying only semi automatic weapons or only 30 round magazines. The joke of a “Supreme” Court is to blame for not properly upholding the Constitution. The cops SHOULD fear the public because that is what keeps them from busting down people’s doors and what keeps the them honest.

  4. im not for promoting pot, but this is insane. we should save our prison cells for the criminals that actually ‘victimize’ others. fraud, extortion, murder, rape, etc. this article is really nails the problem. how about house arrest? saves us alot of $$$ as taxpayers. i say decriminalize weed. its time.

  5. Something tells me there is more to this story. I doubt the cops just found a piece of paper with drawings for a grow house and acquired a subpoena without probable cause. As a Texan I have doubts the author of this story is telling the whole story, just enough to support his demand for legalization of dope in Texas.

  6. We might have the highest incarceration rate in the world…but they ain’t ALL OURS EITHER…30+% of inmates are Mexican…!

  7. My definition of justice, “Restore the victim!” No victim, no crime! Drugs are a touchy subject. If you destitute yourself on drugs or alcohol, we have a welfare system that will bail you out. Dismantle that and I will be all in for legalizing everything. If you destroy your life and ask for help, I’ll give you all I can…until I find out you’re taking advantage. Then you’re on your own. Welfare doesn’t allow me to “opt out”. If you sell those poisons to minors, it’s no longer a victimless crime and I have no sympathy for you.

  8. I’m guessing his hard time won’t be in the neighborhood dog pound. Nothing like skrewing up your life, McGruff. And this “dog” is supposed to set an example for kids, what a phony.

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