Four Carson City people face charges in drug bust

Four Carson City residents were arrested on Saturday and charged with drug-related offenses after a controlled drug buy by Carson City deputies.

According to the deputies' report, at 1:27 a.m., an informant under surveillance by an undercover team allegedly met with Juan Carlos Angel Martinez, aka Luis Vargas, at a building in the 600 block of Hot Springs Road to purchase methamphetamine for $180.

As deputies approached, Martinez, 25, a sheet rock worker who identified himself as Vargas, allegedly threw two baggies containing methamphetamine to the ground.

Martinez allegedly told the deputies another man, Jesse Thomas Archuleta, who lives an apartment in the building, asked him to take the baggies to the informant. He also allegedly told deputies there were more drugs in the apartment.

After obtaining a search warrant, the report stated, deputies forced their way into the apartment and witnessed Archuleta running into the bathroom. They then heard the toilet flush. When they entered the bathroom, deputies found a black coin purse on the toilet containing cash and a white substance. The white substance could not be recovered, the report stated.

Archuleta, 48, a Carson City warehouse worker, was arrested on suspicion of felony trafficking in a controlled substance and gross misdemeanor tampering and destruction of evidence. His bail was set at $42,500.

Athena Rhea Lewis, 26, a Carson City waitress, was arrested on suspicion of felony possession of prescription drugs, misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia, misdemeanor possession of less than an ounce of marijuana and misdemeanor failure to appear. Her bail was set at $5,064.

Michelle Deann McKnight, 25, a Carson City a janitor, was arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia. Her bail was set at $1,132.

Martinez was arrested on suspicion of felony trafficking in a controlled substance, felony providing false information to avoid prosecution and felony probation violation. His bail was set at $27,500, but there was no bail granted on the probation-violation charge.

At the jail, Martinez' true identity was discovered. The report describes him as a deported felon with a pending warrant from Nevada Division of Parole and Probation.

A complete search of the apartment yielded 13 grams of methamphetamine, which Archuleta allegedly said was his. In Lewis' purse, deputies allegedly discovered drug paraphernalia, a prescription bottle containing unknown pills that did not have her name on it and a small amount of marijuana. A check revealed Lewis had a pending arrest warrant.

A glass smoking pipe with white residue was in McKnight's pants pocket.

-- Contact reporter Karen Woodmansee at kwoodmansee@nevadaappeal.com or 882-2111, ext. 351.