WOMAN CARRYING POT PIPE INTO COURT ARRESTED

STUART -- Andrea Kozlowski almost made it through the entrance of the
Martin County Courthouse Monday afternoon.

If only it weren't for the pipe full of marijuana stashed inside her
cute black rectangle purse.

Martin County sheriff's deputy Paula Neild thought the pipe was a
weapon when she saw it on the X-ray machine. She asked Kozlowski, 29,
if she could look inside her purse. Kozlowski, who was visiting the
courthouse to file some paperwork, agreed.

"My main concern is to look for something that would hurt someone in
here," said Neild, who has worked in the courthouse since June. "I
never expected that."

Neild pulled the pipe out of the purse and said it was full of "a
leafy green substance." Sheriff's deputies said a field test concluded
that the green stuff was marijuana.

Neild arrested Kozlowski for possession of drug paraphernalia. She was
being held at the Martin County jail Monday afternoon.

Signs near the front of the courthouse entrances warn people that
everything they carry into the building is subject to search, but this
is not the first time someone has tried to enter the building with
drugs.

A Palm Beach Gardens man was arrested in 2003 after deputies said he
tried to walk into the courthouse with a tin full of marijuana on his
way to get a passport.

Another man was arrested a few years earlier after deputies said he
absent-mindedly pulled out a bag of marijuana and placed it on the
security desk, apparently forgetting he had it.