(Sept. 29, 2016) Although Berlin mayoral hopeful and District 2 Councilwoman Lisa Hall admitted this week that she was charged in April with possession of flunitrazepam in South Carolina, police records say that was not the case.
Hall, according to law enforcement officials in Charleston County, was charged with marijuana possession on April 29. Prescription medications, illegal or otherwise, were not involved.
Information on that arrest sent to local media this week was apparently misunderstood, leading some to conclude erroneously that Hall had been charged with possession of the flunitrazepam, also known as Rohypnol, and which cannot be purchased legally in this country.
The error resulted from an apparent misinterpretation of the standardized charging documents, which list multiple drug classifications as well as flunitrazepam.
On Monday, however, Hall responded to the misguided speculation and said, “I was in South Carolina and I got stopped and I had a plastic bag ... this was back in April and I paid the ticket and never went back there. I don’t know why they waited until now to bring it up.”
She added that the pills belonged to her late husband and that she was unaware of their presence.
However, there were no pills and no traffic stop, according to the incident report supplied by Charleston County Police Public Information Officer Charles Francis. Instead, Hall and a female companion were arrested on April 29 at a Marriott Hotel in Charleston on relatively minor marijuana charges.
Francis explained that marijuana was included in the “Sch. I, II, III or flunitrazepam” charges listed in documents that originated at the Charleston County Clerk of Court and were circulated locally.
According to the incident report, a night security guard called police for suspected narcotic activity after he followed up on a complaint about in-room smoking from other guests and detected what he believed was marijuana smoke coming from another unit.
 On their arrival, police found Hall and her friend outside their room and questioned them. Police said Hall’s companion “admitted that she and her friend were indeed smoking ‘weed’ in the room.” A search of the friend’s possessions produced about an ounce of marijuana and paraphernalia, while Hall was found to have about a quarter-ounce of marijuana and paraphernalia.
Both were taken into custody and charged with possession with intent to distribute. Bond was set at $5,000 each.
A court administrator at the City of Charleston Municipal Court said Hall is scheduled to appear for a hearing on Oct. 19 on the marijuana charge.
Attempts to contact Hall on Wednesday were unsuccessful.