He was traveling by car with friends on his way to the SXSW conference in Austin to give a talk titled “The Final Frontier of Reverse Engineering” when he had to stop at a border patrol checkpoint in Sierra Blanca, Texas. Department of Homeland Security officers were using dogs to decide if a vehicle warranted a search, and Hotz’s car was barked at.
Geohot reportedly holds a a medical marijuana license in California. In the glove box of his car he kept 1/4 oz. of marijuana and “chocolate edibles” equivalent to less than 1/8 oz., according to a source familiar with the case cited by Above the Law. Such a small amount of the drug typically only warrants a citation, but the local sheriff reportedly took the whole weight of the chocolate and valued it at $800, instead of the $15 Hotz allegedly paid for it. Hotz was booked for a felony and posted $1,500 bail.
