South Carolina Sheriff Leon Lott meant it when he said he was going to round up the stoners who partied with Michael Phelps in Columbia, South Carolina last November. Seven arrests have been made for marijuana possession, and the Roor bong in question was reportedly confiscated.

The party where Phelps inhaled at least one monster bong hit took place at 2201 Blossom St. near the Five Points section. Columbia is the home of the University of South Carolina.

Searches were conducted at two locations on Feb. 7: the Blossom St. house, where three were arrested, and a house 15 miles away on Lake Murray, where the other four were busted after a dozen police kicked in the door with guns drawn. They found about six grams of marijuana.

“They never asked him, ‘Who sold you the pot?’” a lawyer for one of the pot perps says. “They were asking, ‘Were you at the party with Michael Phelps? Did you see him using marijuana?’ It was all about Michael Phelps.”

Four computers, a hard drive and a cell phone were seized.

The Richland County Sheriff claims that the bong was being auctioned on eBay for $100,000.

While names of the Columbia 7 have yet to be officially released, The Smoking Gun was able to acquire mug shots of six of them - four men and two women (a third woman was charged). Two men arrested at the Lake Murray house had been living at the Blossom St. house in November. They were identified as professional poker player Zachery "Carter" King and Daniel White. Kameron Howard, who currently lives at the Blossom St. house, was also arrested.

Poker News Daily reports: "The alleged involvement of King began to surface on the Something Awful forums on February 1. King posted, 'fwiw that's my bong at my house. Gobbo/psyduck or any other poker guy on SA can confirm. More important, how much [do you] think that bong is worth on eBay?'... King replied to a TwoPlusTwo thread entitled 'Was ckingusc arrested? Did he try selling his bong on eBay?' His response to the two questions posed: 'Were u dropped on your head as a child or are u intentionally being dense? Either way they should be closing the case vs. Mike. As far as the charges vs. me, I can't speak about but the penalties will be very minimal. This entire thing has basically proven to me that you cannot trust the media or the police if you stand in the way of their interest. Also fwiw, no I am not dumb enough to actually try and sell a bong on eBay.”

The 23-year-old King won the 2008 Poker Stars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) Main Event, netting $1.3 million. According to Card Player, King has earned nearly $2 million playing poker.

No wonder King owned the custom-made Roor bong worth nearly $500.

Gov. Mark Sanford is not in favor of Lott's crusade. "I don't see what it gets at this point," he says.

Phelps has not been charged with illegal bonghitting - yet!


Also see:

Michael Phelps: Hits from the Bong

The Phelps Backlash

Michael Phelps: Hits from the Bong, Pt. 2