An elderly couple is facing charges this week after they were caught smuggling hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of Marijuana across the country. Patrick Jiron, 83, and his wife, Barbara, 70, of Clearlake Oaks, Calif. were arrested when they were pulled over on the highway for a routine traffic stop in Nebraska.

From there, the officer noticed a strong odor of marijuana and asked to search the vehicle. Upon finding the contraband, packaged by strand in various plastic bags and even a cheese puffs container, the officer placed both the husband and wife under arrest.

The couple claim that the marijuana was a gift for various family members. Despite the claim, the couple remain charged as if they were any other drug runners.

Who is their son?

An extra wrinkle to this story comes from their lineage. The son of Patrick and Barbara happens to be Justin Jiron. Justin is the county prosecutor in Chittenden County and certainly not someone who you would picture having involvement in something like this. Justin has proclaimed his ignorance and innocence, saying he had absolutely no knowledge of his parents' activities. If the couple really were bringing the marijuana to the east coast as gifts, he may be telling the truth. Regardless, it is a bad look for a city official to have ties like this.

It makes just as much sense that he would try to distance himself as much as possible, whether he really knew or not.

Isn't marijuana legal in Vermont?

While marijuana is legal in certain states to varying degrees, what the Jiron's were doing is indeed illegal. Driving across the country requires crossing through many different states, each with their own laws.

In the midwest, marijuana still remains highly illegal, so being caught with any amount would be subject to arrest.

This is where the burgeoning marijuana industry lives, in the gray area. What is legal in one state may not be in another. Adding to the confusion, what also may be legal in a given state may be illegal in the same state via federal laws.

This contradiction has led to many raids and arrests of people who assumed that they were operating within the law.

There seems to be more to this story than has been initially revealed. If these packages were meant as gifts, could they have gone about transporting them in a legal manner? If the elderly couple were actually pot dealers, why would they so casually store the marijuana for a cross country trip and then willingly allow an officer to search and find it?

There are more questions than answers at this point. That is unless their story is true and they are just the most generous elderly couple in the world.
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